Ghosts of Ourselves
by Khgirl08
Summary: -Alternate Ending to Deathly Hallows- He should be dead. He's struggling to stay alive. She wants to be dead. The Golden Trio. WARNING: possible triggers including abuse, torture, and non-explicit rape.
1. Prologue

It was hard, Harry thought, to die. Much harder than Sirius had told him, much harder than Dumbledore had claimed it was back in King's Cross, and certainly much harder than he had imagined. At least, it was hard to not die. He had thought he would come straight back to life, just in time to kill Voldemort and save the others. He had, apparently, been wrong. He could hear the Death Eaters celebrating, marching off, could almost see them, but the image looked like one of Dudley's broken televisions. And the pain… the pain was so intense. But it didn't matter.

He would put up with it, with anything, if he could save everyone, especially Ginny, Hermione, and Ron.

* * *

><p>"Ron, something's wrong."<p>

Ron looked up at Hermione with bleary eyes. The girl of his dreams stood over him, biting her lip as tears swam in her eyes. If they only could have had more time together before this battle… "Of course something's wrong, 'mione. Look around you, look at how many people are dead." He waved a hand to his left, where most of his family was gathered around Fred's body. Ginny, who had discovered Tonks and Lupin next to her brother, stood between them with her face filled with despair. Along the way, little Colin Creevey laid completely still, and many other friends, students, and Order members were strewn about. "What is right about any of this?"

Hermione sighed, and Ron knew there was something else. That sigh was reserved for when she was unsure about something, and that sort of situation didn't come about very often. "I know, but, well, have you noticed someone missing?"

Ron narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?" He looked back at his family; there was his father, tears streaming down his face as he held his sobbing wife. There was George, staring blankly at the face that was identical to his own. There were Bill and Fleur, whispering something quietly, and there was Percy, shaking his head solemnly as he surveyed the room of battle-weary witches and wizards. Luna and Neville had gravitated to Ginny, and the three of them were holding a whispered conversation. "My family is all here, Hermione, except Charlie, but then he wasn't here to begin with."

"No, they aren't." Hermione knelt in front of him and sighed that uncertain sigh again. "Harry isn't in here."

Ron gaped at her for a moment before leaping to his feet and turning in a complete circle. McGonagall and Flitwick were assisting Madam Pomfrey with her healing. No Harry. Kingsley and Sprout were comforting students and adults alike. No Harry. Oliver Wood, among other people, was still carrying in the deceased and injured fighters. No Harry. Members of the DA were clustered around their fallen comrades and crying or shaking their heads miserably as they spoke of the damage, but there was no sight of Harry. "Bloody hell, Hermione, you're right. Where is he? You don't think-"

"I don't know, Ron." Hermione stood up and grabbed his hand. "We have to go search for him. He was with us when we came in here, so he couldn't have gone too far without someone having seen him, right?"

Ron shook his head. "Hermione, Harry has the Invisibility Cloak. He could have gone anywhere."

Before Hermione could respond, all of the windows of the Great Hall exploded. Hermione screamed and put her hands over her head as Death Eaters flew into the room, sans broomsticks. Ron grimaced as he recalled Harry's brief explanation of Snape's escape: apparently, the greasy-haired headmaster hadn't been the only person to learn a trick or two from Voldemort. People were screaming and crying out in fear, diving to the ground to escape the attack.

"Well, isn't this a sad scene." Voldemort himself stepped through the open doors of the Great Hall, smiling serenely at the chaos around him and flanked by even more Death Eaters. As soon as he spoke, everyone went silent. Ron pulled Hermione into his chest and clung to her tightly. "I know that I promised you an hour to prepare yourselves, but it has proved an unnecessary gift."

"What are you talking about?" Professor McGonagall looked taller than normal, or maybe it was just that she was the only person standing in the middle of a crowd of injured warriors. "Why have you come back so soon? Harry-"

"Harry Potter is dead!" Voldemort laughed maniacally and snapped his fingers. One of his Death Eaters stepped forward with a shred of fabric that made Ron moan with agony. It belonged to the shirt Harry had borrowed from Bill earlier that day. He felt Hermione go rigid as she turned to look, and Voldemort took the fabric and held it higher. "This shirt is all that's left of the Boy Who Lived. He tried to escape us, of course, but my faithful Death Eaters caught him and brought him to me. My magic is so powerful that even his body could not remain whole when confronted with it."

"No…" whispered Ron. This wasn't happening, this couldn't be happening, it wasn't possible. Harry wouldn't have tried to run from the battle. He wasn't really dead, it was all a lie.

McGonagall laughed. She seemed to have taken the post of general for the Order and Hogwarts fighters. "Do you honestly think that we'll believe you because of a piece of cloth? You could have gotten that from anywhere!"

Voldemort smiled again. "Of course, you will want more proof. Bella, if you please."

"Yes, my Lord." Bellatrix Lestrange approached her master and placed her wand to the end of his own. "Prior Incantato."

A ghostly scene arose from the tip of Voldemort's wand; the Great Hall was entranced by the image of Harry being thrown into their line of sight, and moments later he was hit by a blast of green light. His body was completely gone when the light faded, and as the scene faded away Voldemort smiled again. "Is there any doubt that Harry Potter is gone?"

The room was silent for a few moments, but a flash of motion from his left made Ron whip his head around. Ginny was running forward, her hair streaking behind her and her wand at the ready. Ron tried to release Hermione and chase his sister, but his body wouldn't move. He reckoned he was in shock. Bellatrix grinned and shot a Tripping Jinx at the small girl, sending her flying to the floor. "Well, look who decided to join the party. The darling Weasley girl who gave Severus so many problems this year."

"He deserved it and more! He didn't get half of what was coming to him!" Ginny was obviously hysterical, her eyes bright with tears and her voice hoarse; as she tried to get to her feet the female Death Eater grabbed her hair and forced her up, holding her wand to her neck. "And if Harry can't kill this monster, then I'll finish the job for him!"

"You little wench. Do you honestly expect that you would be able to defeat the Dark Lord, who rules all of Britain and more? He has powers the likes of which you couldn't dream of in your darkest nightmares." Bellatrix's voice was far too smug.

"Let her go!" Ron's dad tried to run forward, but the Dark Lord raised his wand. Ron felt himself go completely still, and felt Hermione do the same in his arms. He couldn't even shout in anger, now that he felt his voice return to him.

"Tut, tut, Mr. Weasley. Your daughter all but asked for punishment." Voldemort smiled eerily down at Ginny, who was still struggling to free herself from Bellatrix's grasp. "You'll be my example. Crucio."

Ron couldn't stand to watch the curse, but he couldn't close his eyes or even move them away. He couldn't bear to hear his sister's screams of pain, but he couldn't plug his ears. He was forced to observe his baby sister twist and bend unnaturally, forced to hear every shriek of agony. After what seemed like centuries, Voldemort released the curse and Bellatrix dropped Ginny to the floor, where she continued to squirm in pain for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and standing shakily. Smiling darkly, she laughed in Voldemort's face. "Ha! Is that the worst you can do? I've felt worse pain from other students this year, Tom!"

Voldemort stopped smiling. "You think this is the best I can do, girl? I'm only getting started. That was only the beginning of your pain, and of the pain of your friends. IMPERIO!"

Voldemort's cry was echoed from all around the room by his Death Eaters. Even though he could now move, Ron only had time to realize that he had no way to escape the curses and hold Hermione tighter before one hit him, and suddenly, he knew nothing but the peaceful cloud of oblivion and the feeling of his arms around Hermione.

* * *

><p>Hermione knew what was about to happen, but there was nothing she could do to prevent the mass shout of "IMPERIO!" She felt the paralyzing curse on her lift, and her mouth opened in a loud wail. Ron pulled her even closer to him as people all around them were placed under the Imperius Curse, and she gripped his arms as tightly as she could. When she felt him go limp, however, she cried out in agony again. Ron had been Imperiused.<p>

"No!" She pushed his arms off of her waist and ducked down once again, trying to avoid being hit. Death Eaters were still throwing the curses everywhere, and she knew that if she tried to move anywhere she would be hit. When spells finally stopped whizzing over her head and all was silent, she dared to peek up. A tall Death Eater was staring down at her with dark, dead-looking eyes.

"Here's another who managed to escape the Curse, my Lord. Would you like the honor?" He grabbed her arm and forced her to her feet, tugging her across the floor as if she were a rag doll. She saw nearly every other student or Order member who had been in the school lined up in neat rows, their faces completely blank. Ginny was still being held by Bellatrix, however, and she managed to give Hermione the closest thing to a smile that the bushy-haired girl could imagine at the time.

"Well, if it isn't Miss Granger," said a familiar drawling voice. Lucius Malfoy smirked at her as she was thrown at Voldemort's feet hard enough to make her wince. "This girl was a close friend of Potter, my Lord. She was traveling with him."

"Ah, yes, I remember her clearly now. Look at me, Mudblood." Hermione snorted in derision and kept her gaze on the floor. If she looked up at him, it would be seen as a sign of submission. "I said _look_." Her head was raised with a mean yank of her hair to meet Voldemort's scarlet eyes, and he smiled coldly. "That's much better. Now, I need you to assist me."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Why would you need me, a Mudblood, to help you? If you are such a great wizard, surely you can do whatever it is by yourself." Smiling suddenly, she raised her voice. "Of course, since you are not a Pureblood yourself, maybe you don't know how. Why don't you Imperiuse me, then, the Mudblood who knows more than you do?"

His smile froze for a moment before he sneered once more. "You're testing my patience, Mudblood. I will only ask this nicely once: how many Horcruxes did your precious Harry destroy before I paid back the favor?"

"I wouldn't tell you that if you paid me a million Galleons and set free everyone in this room." she laughed. Her statement was almost true; however, maybe the information wasn't quite as important as the lives of her friends and her… her family. Maybe. Anger rose within her once more, and she spat at his feet

Voldemort's smile faded, and he growled at her. "Insolent brat! Do you honestly think that I will allow you to get by with such actions?"

"Allow me to take care of the beast, my Lord." Lucius raised a wand, probably stolen from one of the warriors. "Avada-"

"NO!" Voldemort grabbed Lucius's wrist, forcing him to stop. "We need the girl. She was a part of Potter's traveling group, you just said so yourself, and she has information. Allow me to coax it out of her first."

Hermione was suddenly afraid. She knew what was about to happen, and she knew that she only had a very slim chance of defying Voldemort's Legilimency. A slim chance, but just enough of one that she might be able to succeed. As his scarlet orbs drilled into her own, she envisioned nothing but a brick wall. Even as images of Harry, Ron, her parents, and the events of the last year tried to come to the front of her mind, she simply drew her thoughts back to the brick wall. Voldemort finally chuckled and withdrew from her mind. "My, my, Miss Granger, you are quite the Occlumens. I will get it out of you somehow or another, mark my words, but perhaps it is best if we turn in for the night. After all, we have a busy day ahead of us."

Hermione said nothing as she was dragged to her feet by Malfoy, but inside she was mildly surprised that no one bothered to Imperiuse her or Ginny. Whatever their reasoning, she knew what would be in store for them in the coming weeks, and she knew it would be hard to survive. If only they still had hope… If only they still had Harry.

* * *

><p>Khgirl08: Hey everyone! This fic is the result of a college student watching far too many "What If…" videos on YouTube that deal with changing the ending of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It's centered around the golden trio and yes, there are some mild spoilers, but if you haven't read the seventh book, why would you be reading a story that specifically states "Alternate Ending" in the summary? =

This has been a WIP for...probably about 3 years now, maybe a little more or less, and by golly it still isn't finished. I hope that getting it published will spur me to finish it up. Of course, feedback ALWAYS helps in these situations.

Please review, whether you loved it, hated it, or something-in-betweened it.


	2. Chapter 1

Khgirl08: I won't waste your time with a massive author's note up here; it's at the bottom if you're interested. I would like to thank all of you who have added this to your Alerts, and I'll also take this opportunity to give a shout out to **Katesmom2** and **AllWasWell07** for their reviews.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, and I only kind of own the situation. Not really, though. Please don't hurt me. ;-;

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><p>Harry suddenly found that he could feel again. He was lying on his back on the forest floor. Rather than the soft robes from King's Cross, he was wearing the clothing he had been killed in. His robes were mangled and barely hanging together and most of his shirt was missing. He thought it quite lucky that his jeans were still mostly intact, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that his Invisibility Cloak and wand were still in the pocket of his robes and his bag was around his neck. These observations led to the knowledge that he could see again, too, could hear and smell and taste again. The air was crisp and fresh.<p>

Groaning, he stood up and stretched his limbs. It felt like he hadn't moved from that spot for many, many hours. Of course, he thought as he popped his back, maybe he hadn't. He had no way of knowing how long it had been since he had taken the Killing Curse to save everyone else. He only hoped that the sacrifice hadn't been in vain.

Stretching his arms once more, Harry finally set off through the forest. Though he had absolutely no idea where to go, or how to do it, he knew he had to accomplish one goal above all others: he had to find Hermione and Ron.

* * *

><p>Ron hated being under the Imperius Curse.<p>

_Although maybe that's a good thing_, he thought as he went through the doorway of Hogwarts. If he could hate being under the curse, maybe that meant it was weakening. Regardless, he hated being controlled by somebody else. Whichever Death Eater had taken it upon himself to curse him was a stickler for perfection. If he ordered him to shine his shoes, he had to be able to see his reflection. If he made him buy groceries for his family (they didn't have any more chickens to raise), the food had to be beautiful _and_ tasteful. Not to mention the fact that he hated how the days seemed to blend together. If he hadn't been told to go to Platform 9 and ¾ that morning, he probably wouldn't have realized that it was already September.

The thing he hated the most, though, was that he couldn't see his friends. He could barely even reminisce on Hermione, his beloved Hermione, because the Death Eater controlling him would order him to think of something else whenever she popped into his head. It hardly mattered, anyway; he knew in his heart that she was dead. Dead. Dead, just like Harry was. As he attempted to dwell on this fact, his attention was again diverted from the bushy-haired girl, although he wasn't sure if it was on the Death Eater's orders or because the Great Hall had undergone a massive transformation.

Slytherin's snake was all over the place: on the tables, on the walls, on the floors, on the benches. The ceiling reflected only black, roiling clouds, although that actually made sense, Ron thought grimly. The skies outside had been dark and ominous ever since June. Perhaps the worst part of the transformation was the teacher's table. Although McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout, and all of the old staff were present, they were joined by ten Death Eaters, and all of them were decked out in green robes with silver trimmings, looking every bit as Slytherin as they could. Even Professor McGonagall, who had made no secret of her loathing of all things Slytherin, was wearing a hat topped with a stuffed snake, of all things, and _smiling_.

Professor McGonagall's smiles used to be as rare as a thestral in broad daylight, but when they appeared they were genuine. Her lips looked strained now, and her eyes were no happier than if she had been at a funeral. She was obviously beginning to fight against the Imperius Curse, just like Ron reckoned he was. None of the students seemed to know where to go, and Ron looked down at his uniform and sighed internally. It was no wonder; every student was wearing green for Slytherin, which was now the only house.

Once every student had crowded into the room, a stout woman stood up at the table and smirked down at all of the students. Had Ron not remained under the Imperius Curse, he would have joined in the groans and complaints of the students who had been attending Hogwarts under Umbridge's previous reign. The toad woman simply flicked her wand, and everyone fell silent immediately. "Welcome, students, to another year at Hogwarts. My name is Professor Dolores Umbridge, and I am your Headmistress this year." She paused, clearly expecting rousing applause, but Ron was one of the few people who clapped. All of the teachers joined him, as well as a couple Slytherins. Luna Lovegood joined in with a few older Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students, and the seventh year Gryffindors also applauded. He knew that no one but the Slytherins and Death Eaters would be clapping if it weren't for the Imperius Curse.

"Thank you, dears." She laughed her horrible giggle, and he felt the Silencing Charm she had imposed lift. "Now, this year brings some changes to Hogwarts. I'm sure that you have all realized that there are no more houses. This is because you are all now supporters of Slytherin. As such, there will be no House Cup competition nor a Quidditch tournament."

"No Quidditch?" whispered Demelza Robbins from Ron's right. He looked down at her, and she frowned back. "This bloody sucks! Why do we all have to be Slytherins just because You-Know-Who was?"

"No other house is worthy, that's why." Ron hated the way his voice sounded these days, metallic and fake. He added that to his list of things he hated about the Imperius Curse, along with the fact that he couldn't even talk for himself most of the time. Demelza gave him a startled look before her dark eyes filled with pity and anger.

"Also, you will now have assigned seating for all meals and classes. Girls and boys will be at separate tables, share separate common rooms, and take separate classes." There was an uproar among the students at this, but Umbridge silenced them once more. "Finally, the curfew has been moved forward to nine o'clock, and all students will be in their beds and silent by nine thirty." Umbridge grinned out at all of them. "Please check the lists posted in the Entrance Hall for your new dormitories. Now, I know that you are all hungry, but I am afraid that it is nearing eight thirty. Therefore, we do not have time to give you food. I will expect to see all of you here at breakfast at seven o'clock sharp. Good evening!"

Ron felt his voice return, and he wanted to sigh and slump against the nearest wall at the realization that, not only did he have to go without dinner, but he had to be in bed by nine thirty. He had hoped when he found out that he would have to return to Hogwarts for his seventh year that he would be able to break the Imperius Curse by hanging out with his old friends. Now he knew that this was not the case. But the curse was still in effect for now, so he walked back into the Entrance Hall and searched for his name on the lists.

This school year was promising to be the worst one yet. No Quidditch, no Neville and Luna, no Ginny, no Harry… No Hermione.

* * *

><p>Hermione pulled her knees closer to her chest and sighed morosely. She was relatively sure that today was September 1st, meaning that the students would be returning to Hogwarts for the year. When she had made the decision to join Harry on his quest, she had made another decision, as well: she would return to Hogwarts and finish her schooling at the first opportunity. Now it looked like that opportunity would never come.<p>

She knew that she would be killed as soon as Voldemort and his Death Eaters got the information they sought from her. They had tried many methods of torture, magical and Muggle, but she hadn't yet broken enough to satisfy their twisted needs. As she heard a set of heavy footsteps start the long trek down the stairs leading to her cell below Malfoy Manor, she sighed and wondered if maybe she shouldn't let them kill her.

_No_, she thought, _I can't_. She had heard snippets of conversation during her imprisonment that had convinced her that Voldemort didn't know if Harry was dead or alive. The piece of his shirt that Voldemort had displayed after the battle had indeed been all that was left of Harry, but the evil wizard was certain that something else should have been left of him, anything else. It wasn't as if she wanted to live through this torture, and Harry definitely wouldn't want her to live through it, but if there was a chance that he could still be alive…

She was all he had left. Hermione was the only person who could help him and wasn't under the Imperius Curse or otherwise impaired. She winced at the thought of poor Ginny, whom she hadn't seen for weeks. Voldemort had finally decided to put the youngest Weasley under the Imperius Curse to press her for information. As soon as he had pumped everything he wanted from her, she was going to be sent back to Hogwarts. She was a Pureblood, however traitorous her family had been in the past, and Voldemort didn't want to spill blood such as Ginny's.

Hermione, on the other hand, was Muggleborn, a Mudblood, and if they got the information about the Horcruxes out of her she was a dead woman. She wondered briefly why Voldemort didn't just search for them himself. _It makes no sense,_ she thought. _He has to know where they all are, right?_ There had to be some other reason that he was keeping her alive.

She had little time to dwell on her thoughts, however, because the door to her cell opened and the dank room filled with light. After blinking several times, Hermione recognized the familiar face of Gregory Goyle. Neville had mentioned that he was one of the best torturers in the school last year, and Voldemort had apparently taken that into consideration when offering him a position as Hermione's living nightmare.

"Look at you, stupid Mudblood! You're such a loser!" Goyle spat on her, and she could smell the alcohol on him as he bent towards her. She merely rolled her eyes and put her head on her knees. She knew it would make him angry, it always did, but it also gave her the satisfaction of realizing that she had some control over his actions. There was no letdown; Goyle roared with anger and pointed his wand at her.

He had learned a new trick over the past month, and seemingly perfected it. Hermione bit her lip as what felt like white-hot knives pierced her skin; she felt as though she would die, the pain was so severe, but she refused to scream for him. After an eternity it stopped, just like it always did, and she let herself breathe once more. There were no marks on her arms, not even a scratch. "That'll teach you for being smart with me!"

"It's impossible to be smart with you; you make everything around you dumb." He growled again and kicked her, but she still refused to raise her head. It was a game she played with him daily. Hermione would refuse to move or talk, unless it was to insult him, and Goyle would become increasingly frustrated with her until he used the Cruciatus on her, forgetting to ask her any questions. He would return an hour later and continue the torture session, this time including the questioning, but she still refused to answer.

It had been this way with any Death Eaters who tried to get information from her. On the rare occasion that Voldemort himself would try to garner information from her, she would end up passing out from exertion, but he never seemed to get what he was looking for. Sometimes she was certain that she spilled a secret or two, but it was never enough to quench the Dark Lord's thirst for her knowledge.

"How dare you? _I_ am a Pureblood! A Muggle like you isn't even fit to wipe my shoes!"

Hermione merely shrugged. Goyle had mentioned the goings on of the outside world every so often, and now that he was on a Muggle tangent maybe she could find out some more current events. "Why don't you just do to me what you would any other Muggle, then?"

"Believe me, I want to." Goyle did something he had never done before; he picked her up by the arm and traced her lips with the lighted tip of his wand. "If I had any choice, I would, but the Dark Lord wants you alive." She rolled her eyes again, and he backhanded her. Another bruise on top of dozens of others. "You wouldn't survive the torture I put Muggle girls through, Mudblood!"

"Wouldn't I?"

"No." Goyle's rage filled eyes suddenly darkened with lust, and he tossed his wand aside carelessly and caressed her jaw. "However, I finally got the Dark Lord's permission for something else…"

Hermione's eyes widened, but she was no stranger to what he was discussing. Lucius Malfoy often came downstairs to "pay her a visit," as he said, and sometimes he brought company. It had only been a matter of time before Goyle did it too. She just closed her eyes and willed herself silent, and her mind fell inexplicably on Harry and Ron. If they were still with her, this wouldn't be happening.

Although it could only have been a couple of hours, it seemed as though days had passed by the time Goyle slammed the door of her cell shut, taking his wand and all light with him. He had finished toying with her rather quickly and hadn't given her any time to recover before beginning his round of questioning and Cruciating for the day. Hermione grabbed her clothing and pulled them back on before curling into a ball in the farthest corner and sobbing quietly. She couldn't see how this could end well.

_Think of Harry. He's still out there somewhere, he'll save you. He'll save all of us. Think of Harry._

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><p>Khgirl08: Hey guys. I think I'll continue to update at this pace, at least for as long as I can. This is still a WIP, after all, and though I'm getting close to the end I'm not quite there yet. And looking at my track record on writing this so far, I may well fall into another slump before I finish it.<p>

The next chapter will feature more Harry, I promise. These first two were a bit short on his perspective by nature, but from here on out we'll see about as much from him as from the other two. Also, the chapters will start to get longer as each character has more to do and say.

Please review, if the urge strikes you, and have a lovely week!

_Next time..._

"What's the matter, Potter, afraid you're not good enough to beat me?"

"I won't do anything."

"You were the person controlling Ron this entire time?"

"_This_ is the only reason you're still alive."

"Harry? Is it really you?"


	3. Chapter 2

Khgirl08: As per usual, the lengthy author's note is at the end. Again, I'd like to thank all of you who've added this to your alerts/faves list, and give a special shout out to the following reviewers:

**AllWasWell07** and **Raayaa**

And, finally, a disclaimer: I own next to nothing that has to do with this story (obviously).

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><p>Harry was incredibly anxious.<p>

It had been many months since he had "died." When he had found his way out of the eerily empty forest, he had seen the carriages taking students to the front doors of the castle. He didn't dare attempt to break into the castle, however much he wanted to, because there were Death Eaters posted at every entrance. Instead, he had made his way into Hogsmeade, where he had snuck about under the Invisibility Cloak. He had heard enough bits and pieces of conversation to know that the strongest members of the Order and Dumbledore's Army had been kept under the Imperius Curse since his death and that Voldemort had extended his reign to France and was now working in Spain. Voldemort wasn't at the front of his thoughts today, though.

Today was the students' first visit to Hogsmeade. He had overheard Rosmerta talking about it a few nights ago, expressing her surprise that You-Know-Who was allowing students to visit. Harry had been so thrilled by the news that he nearly dropped the loaf of bread he was smuggling out from behind her bar while under his cloak.

So it was with a hopeful heart Harry snuck into the bar once again, still under the cloak that was now his home. He had yet to see any familiar faces, but as he didn't know many Slytherins he wasn't surprised; every student seemed to be wearing their robes today, and all of the robes bore the green and silver trimmings of Slytherin's house. Ron, Ginny, Luna, Neville…one of them had to come through. The only one he didn't dare hope to see was Hermione; as a Muggleborn, she would be in hiding or…he didn't want to think about that.

When he took a seat at the broken booth where he normally sat, which had been barred from use until Rosmerta got around to fixing it (since her wand had been taken, she would eventually have to do it in the Muggle fashion), he turned to the door to wait for a familiar Gryffindor face to walk into the warm pub.

He nearly gave himself away when a horribly-familiar head of hair bobbed inside; he had to put a hand over his mouth to stop from shouting out loud. Luna Lovegood was wearing Slytherin robes, and her face was less relaxed than normal, but it was definitely her. Now that he thought about it, Harry realized that he recognized quite a few students; Demelza Robbins was sitting not two tables away, but since she had been wearing Slytherin robes he hadn't given her a second glance.

_So everyone is in Slytherin now?_ Harry grimaced at the thought. _Well, I guess Luna might be able to help me, except she doesn't look like Luna…_

"Hey, Loony Lovegood!" A tall girl shoved Luna over, gaining the attention of the entire pub. "Do you think you're all that because you're not under the Imperius Curse any more? Why don't you get out, you traitor? Everyone knows that you were a friend of Potter, why don't you go join him?"

Luna quietly stood up and dusted herself off before turning around and exiting slowly. Harry glared at the girl from under his Invisibility Cloak, but couldn't bring himself to be truly angry. After all, she had just told him that Luna was no longer under the influence of a Death Eater, which was the best news he'd heard for months.

He sneaked through the crowd and followed Luna down the street. She turned down a side-street and entered the trees at the end, and he raised an eyebrow as he continued to track her. When he crested a hill, he found her sitting on a fallen tree, sobbing her heart out. Harry was nonplussed; he had no idea what to do with a crying Luna.

"Oh, Harry, why did you do it? Why did you have to let yourself be killed?" Luna was talking quietly, but he could understand every word. "We still need you so much."

Just before he decided to remove his cloak and reveal himself to her, somebody came into the clearing from the other side. Ron was standing in the middle of a group of former Slytherin Quidditch players and one Hufflepuff boy, and they were all smirking. "Well, look who we have here, boys! It's Loony Lovegood!" Luna looked at Ron in shock. Harry could see her tense up. "Why don't the rest of you continue on your merry way? I've been waiting for an opportunity like this one."

His new friends agreed and took off running, leaving Ron and Luna alone in the clearing. Harry drew closer as Ron advanced on Luna, who was now shaking. "Ronald, what are you doing?"

"I've been so lonely, Loony, and you look lonely too, so I thought that we could comfort each other." Ron grinned at her. "Come on, don't you like me anymore?"

"Ron, I still like you, but not like this! This isn't who you are!" Luna jumped up and tried to run, but Ron was too quick. He grabbed her hand and brought her into his chest. "Please don't do this!"

"Too late, Loony." Ron bent down to kiss her, and Harry finally sprang into action. Casting Muffliato around the clearing as unnoticeably as he could, he ripped the Cloak off and sprung forward, grabbing Ron around the neck and pulling him back, his wand pressed into the redhead's side.

"Do anything to her and die."

Luna took one look at Harry and fainted, collapsing to the ground and staying there. Ron, who was much taller and stronger than he had been at the final battle, threw Harry to the ground and drew his own wand. "_Potter_?"

"Weasley." Harry stood slowly, keeping his wand trained on his best friend. Ron looked thoroughly disconcerted, and Harry took advantage of the situation. "Stupefy!"

"Protego!" Ron's shield bounced the spell back at Harry, who quickly dodged it and threw another spell towards him. Ron dodged this time before raising his wand once more. "Serpensortia!"

"Evanesco!" The snake that Ron created in midair disappeared inches from Harry's face. "Ron, stop, it's me!" Ron responded with a Stunner, and Harry threw up a shield to block it. "Fight off the Curse, Ron, I know you can do it!"

"Sectumsempra!"

If Harry hadn't been dodging spells, Bludgers, and Dudley's fists for as long as he could remember, he knew that he couldn't have avoided the curse. As it was, the sleeve of his already tattered robes was nicked by it as he jumped out of the way, allowing it to rip apart a branch instead. The use of such a dangerous curse made him realize that he was not truly fighting his best mate, and he let out a howl of rage. "Aargh!"

"What's the matter, Potter, afraid you're not good enough to beat me?" Ron laughed wildly. "I'll kill you this time. Imagine what the Dark Lord will do for me!"

Harry threw a silent Stunner at Ron as he continued to laugh, and the boy collapsed with a smile still on his face. Harry rushed to Luna's side and pressed his wand into her temple. "Ennervate."

Luna stirred and groaned a bit before her eyes fluttered open. "Harry? Is it really you?"

"Yeah, it's me." He didn't know what else could be said, but it didn't seem to bother Luna. The blonde girl grinned and flung her arms around his neck, squealing as she hugged him half to death.

"He told us you were dead! We all thought that you had really gone and gotten yourself killed! Oh, it's been horrible! Where were you all this time?"

"Whoa, slow down a minute!" Harry hugged her back and laughed softly. "I was dead, if that makes sense, but not truly dead. See, I turned myself in to You-Know-Who because he had made me into a Horcrux on accident, which means he put a piece of his soul into me so he would be basically immortal. Between my sacrifice and the one my mother made for me, the only piece of me that actually died was the bit of his soul."

Luna's eyes were wider than normal now. "But where were you? Why didn't you try to help us, Harry?"

"I just woke up on the first of September. I must have disappeared or something when he tried to kill me, and when I snuck into Hogsmeade to get help I heard all about what was happening." Harry shook his head. "I had no way to figure out where You-Know-Who was staying and no one to help me find him. How was I supposed to find where he was without help?"

Luna relaxed slightly. "Well, at least you're here now." She shuffled back over to the fallen tree and sat down slowly. "You're quite lucky, you know. I was under the Imperius Curse until last weekend, when I was brought to the Ministry and told that they would be keeping Daddy prisoner unless I cooperated with them. I thought it would be rather pointless to fight, because there was no one to help me, so I went along with them. None of the girls at school seem to like me anymore, because they all know that I was one of your friends. Or maybe it was because I threatened to sic a Crumple-Horned Snorkack on them…"

"Only the girls?" Harry gave Ron's unconscious form a pointed look, and Luna heaved a sigh.

"Apparently you haven't heard that part of the story. The beginning of the year started out with boys and girls being in separate classes, common rooms, and at different tables, but as the year has progressed Umbridge has gone so far as to make our professors walk us to each class and have separate halves of the library for us to study at. We're never allowed to mingle in the halls, and if a boy and girl are caught even saying hello to one another they're subjected to the Cruciatus Curse. What's worse, she's even split the _teachers_ by gender. I have McGonagall for Charms and Transfiguration, and Alecto Carrow covers both Dark Arts and Muggle Studies for me. Virginia Covens teaches Potions and Care for Magical Creatures. The boys only have Flitwick, Amycus Carrow, and some gontigor named Dolohov."

Harry wrinkled his nose as he sat next to her. "That's dumb. Why would she want to separate boys and girls?"

"I suppose she thinks it's improper for us to be together. She never really explained it to us." Luna sighed sadly. "Most of the teachers are still under the curse, and those that aren't have run. Hagrid hasn't been seen since the battle, and Sprout and Trelawney disappeared near the end of September. Herbology and Divination were just dropped from the course list after that."

Harry shook his head and looked back at Ron, who was still completely unconscious. "What should we do about him? I don't want to just erase his memory of today and let him go, but what else can we do?"

"Hm… Harry! Somebody's coming!" Luna gasped and looked up at the trees; somebody could definitely be seen shaking and crashing their way through the foliage, and Harry cursed silently. "We can't stay here, and we can't let him remember you."

"But I can't just leave him! My best friend is in trouble, and we might be the only ones who can save him!"

"If we don't go right now we're _all_ in trouble. Obliviate!" Luna's whispered charm hit Ron square in the forehead. Harry cursed and Summoned the Invisibility Cloak. He and Luna ducked under it and ran as the someone laughed nearby. They were just in time; several hooded figures entered the clearing and smirked at the sight of Ron's unconscious form.

"I always knew he was pathetic. Being beaten by a girl, it's a disaster, a disgrace." The man in front pointed his wand at Ron and said "Ennervate." Harry watched as his best friend begin to stir, but Luna grasped his arm tighter and pulled him out of the clearing.

_Don't remember, don't remember me, Ron…_

* * *

><p>Ron stirred and sat up, wincing when the clearing seemed to swim before his eyes. He remembered something happening, something shocking and huge, but whatever it was he couldn't bring it to the surface of his mind quite yet. As he sighed morosely and turned to see who had awoken him, he realized that something felt a bit different.<p>

He was controlling his own actions. He was no longer under the Imperius Curse! He stood up and met the gazes of the four Death Eaters before him. "Can I help you blokes?"

The man in front sneered. "Listen here, Weasley. We know that you're big on being anti-Ministry at the moment-"

"More like anti-You-Know-Who," he muttered, wishing he could say his real name. Unfortunately, the Taboo on his name was still in effect and had been expanded to include a pain so severe it could nearly kill a person, so he didn't risk it.

The message got across anyhow. "Don't press your luck, ginger. We've decided to release you from the curse on account of the Dark Lord doesn't feel like you will be much of a problem."

"Oh really? Well, maybe he's lost his touch then, because I can assure you-"

"We are bringing your sister back to Hogwarts." Ron stopped cold at these words. _Ginny? But isn't she dead?_ "She is under the Imperius Curse, and unless you want her to kill herself you will not make any trouble, do you hear me?"

Ron was torn. He was physically and mentally free to cause as many problems for Umbridge and her cronies as he pleased, but if he did that then he would lose Ginny all over again. After several seconds, he sighed. "I won't do anything."

"That's what we like to hear." The Death Eater up front grinned and turned around. "Have fun with school."

"Now can I get back to _my_ girl? I haven't seen her in so long." One of the bigger members of the group took down his hood and smirked at Ron pointedly. Ron's eyes widened in recognition. "It feels like ages since we've been together. She's probably missing _me_ like crazy, but it isn't like you'd know what that's like. Your girl's not around anymore, is she?"

Ron glared at him. "I don't know what you're talking about," he growled.

"Your stupid little Mudblood." Goyle's smirk broadened. "Granger, wasn't she called? Yeah, she was fun for a while, but then the Dark Lord got all the information he wanted from her and decided that she just wasn't useful no more."

Ron's hands clenched into fists, but Goyle turned and began to leave with his fellow Death Eaters before he could act on his rage. Instead, he turned to the empty stump and kicked it with a loud shout anger. "Damn it! Damn it all!"

_What does it matter that I'm not under the Curse anymore? I might as well be, as long as Gin's there! And even if she wasn't there, or even if her life wasn't in my hands, what could I possibly do to stop You-Know-Who or even just Umbridge by myself?! I'm as worthless now as I always was._

It was hard to tell whether his heart or the rain clouds were heavier as he made his way into the village of Hogsmeade. His roommates were heckling passer-bys under the shelter of the abandoned Hogs Head, and he purposefully steered clear of the area. Ron had no desire to come into contact with the gang of wannabe Death Eaters now that he was no longer forced to be one of them.

When he veered away, a familiar head of hair caught his eye. Demelza Robbins was exiting The Three Broomsticks up the way, and she looked to be alone. _Might as well try and become friends with someone not completely evil,_ he thought. "Hey, Demelza," he said softly when he caught up to her.

She gasped and dropped her bag of shopping. "R-Ron?"

"Yeah, it's me. Look, I-"

"Get away from me, you monster!" she shouted. Everyone on the street turned to watch as she grabbed her bag and fled, leaving Ron standing quite alone and in shock.

"You've never been very subtle, Weasley," said an oily voice from behind him. He turned and saw a smirking Kenton Harper, one of his roommates. "Honestly, I'm surprised you're trying to get with someone like her. I've heard she still calls herself a Gryffindor."

Ron drew himself to his full height and glared. "And rightly so, Harper. Once a lion, always a lion, and never a snake."

Harper's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying that you've just got yourself one angry roommate. I'm not under anyone's control anymore, and even if I can't do anything to stop all the bloody idiots running our school, I'm certainly not going to hang around with you and your friends anymore. I'm done."

Ron spun around and stalked away from his shocked former-crony. Until he was halfway back to the school, his boiling blood prevented him from comprehending just how lonely his life had become. Apparently his old crowd was afraid to even be near him, and he knew he could never hang out with his new crowd unless it was by force.

"What I wouldn't give…" he mumbled as he saw a daring couple brushing their hands against one another in front of him. _What I wouldn't give to be here with Hermione._

* * *

><p>Hermione didn't even look at Goyle as he entered her cell, nor did she react when he shouted "Mudblood!" He hadn't been down in a week, as he had been on a "special mission for the Dark Lord, a secret mission," and she had hoped he would be too tired to come down when he returned. Unfortunately, luck wasn't with her today. "Did you miss me?"<p>

"Not particularly, no."

He growled. "I missed you, though. Looks like we'll have to make up for lost time."

Hermione curled into a tighter ball. She knew that she was beginning to weaken; they were feeding her less and less, and even when Goyle had been gone the older Malfoy had used the Cruciatus Curse on her daily. She wasn't sure how long she could keep up her defenses against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. She wouldn't go down easily, however. "You've stopped in and said hi. That's enough for me."

"Shut up!" Goyle closed the cell door and tossed his wand down, forcing her to her feet and grinning at her. "You know you missed me." He didn't smell like booze, which was both a rarity and a good thing. Hermione found that he was less violent and, incredibly, far more likely to give away information when he was sober.

"No, actually, I didn't." Hermione refused to meet his eyes; she knew what she would find there, lust and insanity. Goyle wasn't smart, but he was sadistic.

"Guess what? Your favorite Weasley was released from the Imperius Curse today." At that, Hermione did meet his eyes. They were filled with lust and brutal looking, just like normal, but they also had an unusual gleam of humor in them. "Yeah, they apparently just threatened to hurt his sister if he made trouble. He seemed pretty happy without you, though. He had been hanging all over Lovegood before we got there. That's what I heard, at least." He winked at her, and that sent her over the edge.

"You liar!" Hermione burst into tears in front of him for the first time in months. "Liar!"

Goyle silenced her by placing a meaty hand over her mouth. "I'm not lying. It was the last part of my mission, releasing him from my control."

"Your control?" Hermione's voice was muffled by his hand, so she bit him. He removed his hand with a howl of pain and she continued to scream at him, ignoring the metallic taste in her mouth. "You were the person controlling Ron this entire time?"

"Yeah, Mudblood, I was, and I was the one who told him to get in Lovegood's pants." Hermione gasped in outrage, but he continued over her. "She knocked him out, lucky for her, which must mean he's a horrible wizard." He sighed happily. "I enjoyed making him be perfect. He had to do all sorts of dumb stuff, just because I told him to! He was so mad at me, I could tell."

Hermione glared at him so forcefully that she would have burned holes in his face had she had enough energy. "He isn't the only one!"

Goyle grinned down at her. "What are you going to do, Mudblood? You can't do anything to me."

"Oh yes I c-" Hermione's sentence was stopped by Goyle's lips forcing themselves onto her own, and he took advantage of her open mouth by sliding his tongue in. Try as she might, she couldn't push him off of her. He was right about that, at least.

He pushed her back onto the floor and lifted his mouth from hers, smirking. "This is going to last a while, Mudblood. Maybe all through the night." She glared daggers at him, and his smirk broadened. "You might as well get used to it. After all, _this_ is the only reason you're still alive."

"_What?_" Of anything that Goyle could have told her, that was the least expected.

"You're only alive to serve as entertainment for us Death Eaters. Of course, the Dark Lord did want to get some information from you at first, but since you were so stubborn even after giving a few tidbits he gave you to Mr. Malfoy, who has been generous enough to share you with me whenever I like. Now, to get down to business."

Hermione turned her head away and blushed furiously as he began to remove her shirt. When he had pulled it over her head, she realized that the source of light was very close to her. _Very_ close. His wand.

She knew then what she had to do. She wouldn't stay in this dungeon another minute, wouldn't let them use her as a toy, wouldn't be their prisoner. Ron was free, and damn it if she was going to stay away from him any longer. Grimacing as he lowered his lips to her neck, she shifted underneath him, wriggling to her right just enough so that she could reach the wand. As soon as her hand touched it, his hand surrounded her wrist. "Nice try, Mudblood."

His free hand gripped her hair as he crushed his mouth against hers, but she refused to let him go any farther. Summoning all of her strength, she kicked her knees straight up. She met her mark; his hands left her as he screeched in pain, and she kicked him again and used as much energy as she could muster to force him off of her. Unfortunately for her, that wasn't even close to enough. He grabbed her wrists with one hand and forced them above her head, his other hand forcing her knees to part. "The more you struggle, the funner it is for me. I told him, you know. Your _boyfriend,_" he continued when confusion broke through her furious glare, "I basically told him everything. He's so stupid, though, he probably didn't even pick up on it."

And before she could respond, his lips were on hers again, and her conscious mind drifted away from the cell and into the place where her logic reigned supreme. Goyle had known she was dating Ron, or at least thought they had been, so he must have been telling the truth about being inside Ron's head. Hermione knew of one other person who knew for a fact that they were together, and considering the circumstances, she sincerely doubted Goyle had found out about her relationship from Harry.

* * *

><p>Khgirl08: Hey guys! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I certainly got Harry in a lot more, and hopefully that's how the story will continue. I've been tweaking the future chapters of the story in between updates, and I think I'm settling into a better narrative flow.<p>

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Blazing anger the likes of which may well melt my eyes upon reading? ...praises? Then you know what to do...review, review, review! :D

_Next time..._

"All Hail the Dark Lord!"

"Turn around, slowly, or I'll make sure you never walk again."

"Winky is being ordered to never answer that question!"

"He won't get near you again, don't worry."

"I'll do my best."


	4. Chapter 3

Khgirl08: Hello to all of my fabulous readers! As usual, the big author's note is at the end, but I wanted to take this time to thank my reviewers:

**AllWasWell07**, **Raayaa**, and **Dr****agonite8271995**

Thanks so much for your reviews, and another big thanks to all my watchers, favoriters and readers! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own it.

* * *

><p>"Harry, I really wish I could stay and talk more, but Umbridge has recently started to take attendance at every meal. I don't want my dad to get into trouble because I'm not present." Luna shook her head. "We need to do something about the school, but without time to plan…"<p>

"There's nothing we can do. I know." Harry sighed loudly, and winced when the sound echoed around the small cave he and Luna were in. "Take my Cloak and sneak out here sometime tonight. There's a clearing up the mountain a little ways, with two dead trees around the edge. I'll be there." He shoved the piece of fabric into Luna's hands and nodded. "Look, I know it's probably a bit of a long shot, but if you find anyone who isn't under the Curse who you think might be willing to help us...bring them, too. Don't tell them who I am, only that I'll be able to help."

"I'll do my best." Luna smiled dreamily and skipped away, leaving Harry to stand alone in the rain. The air was only growing colder, and he was now without even a cloak to keep the elements at bay. He'd have to try to shelter under one of the trees around the clearing, no matter how entirely unappealing the prospect of spending the night exposed to the bitter wind and incoming rain was. He sighed and began to trek to a nearby hiding spot, where he could at least get some food.

He had nearly made it to his food store when his way was interrupted. "If you take another step, I'll curse you." Harry froze mid-step at the chilling voice. It was raspy and hard, yet oddly familiar. "Turn around, slowly, or I'll make sure you never walk again."

Harry gulped. If he turned, the person holding him up would surely turn him in to the Death Eaters he knew were all over Hogwarts and the village, but there was no way he could avoid that fate. Cursing his idiocy at being caught, he turned around, keeping his head down. It didn't help; the person who had their wand trained on him gasped in recognition. He was doomed.

"Harry!" Someone tall and broad-shouldered threw their arms around him. His vision was blocked by thick hair, but when he was released he was gazing into the filthy face of Neville Longbottom. "You're alive!"

"N-Neville?" Harry gaped at his friend, who was smiling so broadly that it stretched his entire face. "What are you doing here?"

"I broke the Imperius Curse and made a run for it." Neville shuddered and sneezed. "I've been camping out in the mountains for over a week now, which is why I have this cold, but a few nights ago I found a cave that had some supplies in it, like an old tent and some food, and then I figured that maybe some old friends would be hiding nearer the village so I came here and who do I find? Harry Potter!"

"Shut up, Neville, someone will hear you!" Harry was too happy to actually sound angry. "Alright, let's go back into the mountains, then. Luna is coming up later, maybe with some friends-"

"What? No, Luna is still under the Imperius Curse!"

"No, she isn't." Harry smiled at his friend's immediately brighter expression. "Luna was freed last weekend because they have her dad and they're using him as a bargaining chip for her good behavior. Unfortunately, she doesn't have many friends left at Hogwarts, mainly because Umbridge is in charge again and everyone's frightened of her. But still, Luna's free to act as she will."

Neville grinned. "I can't wait to see her, then. Merlin, I've missed Luna."

Harry chuckled. "Come on, then, let's go get some food. I have a store set up right ahead."

"Great!" Neville and Harry began to walk in companionable silence, the latter's mind spinning with worry. Luna was free to do as she wanted, but how long was it until they caught her sneaking out and punished her? Or worse, hurt her father? Or put her back under the Imperius Curse?

As far as Harry knew, Luna had never broken a rule of her own volition. She had helped other people break rules, had even broken them herself, but there was always someone there to help her do whatever it was she was doing. She needed someone else to help keep her safe.

"Harry, mate, I'm dying to know what happened. Not just since I last saw you," Neville said when Harry began to speak, "but before that even. You, Ron, and Hermione wouldn't tell us anything."

"Yeah, well, we didn't want anyone else to get hurt. Fat lot of good that did," Harry said with a sad smile. "Basically, Dumbledore instructed me to look for these things called Horcruxes. You-Know-Who made them by putting a piece of his soul into different objects, and those pieces of soul acted as a sort of insurance that he wouldn't die. After Dumbledore died, we knew of four Horcruxes that had to be destroyed: a locket belonging to Slytherin, a cup belonging to Hufflepuff, something belonging to Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, and his snake."

"That's why you wanted me to destroy the snake!" exclaimed Neville. "Blimey…but I never got to."

Harry nodded. "I didn't expect you to have gotten it once I heard the news. Well, we traveled around the country for months, got into some fights, but we found the locket and destroyed it with the sword of Gryffindor. Then we were captured by Snatchers, taken to Malfoy Manor, escaped with Luna, Dean, Ollivander, and Griphook, but while we were there Bellatrix Lestrange said something that made us suspicious of what was in her vault at Gringotts. We broke in with Griphook's help and found Hufflepuff's cup, then we escaped on the dragon.

"We came to Hogwarts, met up with you and the others, and then I talked to the Grey Lady about finding Ravenclaw's diadem. It was in the Room of Requirement, and so we destroyed it and the cup. Then we saw Snape being murdered, and with his last breath he left me some memories." Harry stopped to take a breath. "I won't go into detail, but I found out that Dumbledore had realized that _I_ was an accidental Horcrux, that You-Know-Who's soul had broken when he murdered my parents and tried to kill me.

"I had to sacrifice myself to make sure that he could die. And I left the castle, saw you, and then went to the forest. He used the Killing Curse on me."

"Then how-"

"I came to in this cleaner, emptier version of King's Cross. Dumbledore was there, and he explained some things about You-Know-Who and the Horcruxes, then gave me the option of moving on or coming back. I chose to come back, but instead of it being a really quick thing, it actually took a really long time. I was just in this big, white mist, and I couldn't tell time or anything, but when I came back into my body it was September 1st. I've been up here since then."

"Whoa," said Neville as they came to Harry's stash of food. "I don't know what I expected to hear, but that wasn't it."

"I don't think anyone expects me to be alive," said Harry. "I hope no one does expect it, because then You-Know-Who won't be expecting it, either."

"Yeah." Neville looked at the supply tree and sighed. "What do you want to do when Luna gets here? She isn't going to go back to school, is she?"

"Probably should. Umbridge will get suspicious otherwise."

"That's right, I completely forgot about her."

Harry grabbed a can of beans and shrugged. "Besides that, it will be nice to have her on the inside. Maybe she'll be able to gather support from some of the other students and start a revolution against Umbridge and the other Death Eaters, or at least have them helping us during the final battle."

Neville sighed again. "Harry, mate, we're going to need a lot more people than a few Hogwarts students to help us. You-Know-Who has nearly all of Britain and France on his side. Even Luna won't be able to pull off the necessary coup without help." Harry glanced at his friend, who was staring into the distance and blushing slightly.

"But it's a start." Harry and Neville fell silent for a few minutes as they picked up some food, each lost in his own world. Harry's thoughts wandered to Ginny and his heart gave a painful twinge. Finally he sat up and looked at Neville. "Exactly what happened after I spoke to you outside of the school?"

Neville blinked in surprise. "I thought you knew everything, Harry. I mean, you certainly seemed aware of our current situation."

"I've picked up some information around Hogsmeade, but I don't know everything yet."

"Well, I helped Ginny get Maria Sauren inside, then I helped Luna reassure some of the younger injured fighters. We found Ginny next to Professor Lupin and his wife-" Harry's heart twinged again "-and were comforting her when the Death Eaters came flying through the windows and You-Know-Who crashed through the doors. McGonagall stood up to him when he said that you were dead, so he showed us a bit of your shirt and had Bellatrix Lestrange use Priori Incantatem to show us your supposed death.

"Ginny got really angry and ran towards him before Luna and I could stop her, and he tortured her as an example. When she laughed about it he just laughed back and started throwing the Imperius Curse everywhere. The Death Eaters did the same, and nearly everybody got hit. Luna and I tried to block it, but our shields were too weak. I had the privilege of being cursed by Bellatrix herself, and I mean privilege when I say it. She had so many people to control that she didn't have time to pick on me too much." Neville smiled sadly. "I don't remember much up until about a month ago, when I started fighting her off. That's when I learned that most people were no longer under the curse, and that You-Know-Who was taking over all of Europe.

"When I finally managed to rid myself of the Curse I came here, and since then I've been hoping, no, I've been praying for some kind of miracle. I guess, in a way, I got my prayer answered when you showed up, huh?"

Harry couldn't have agreed with him more. Sighing, he put the last can of corn in Neville's pack, wishing more than anything for Luna to come back right then with three specific people in tow. Though he didn't even know if they were alive or imprisoned, he desperately wanted to see, to talk to, to embrace Ginny, Hermione, and Ron.

* * *

><p>Ron looked around the empty common room and sighed. He had moped right through the start of dinner. If he wasn't so worried about Umbridge or one of the Death Eaters taking out his absence on Ginny, he wouldn't bother going at all, but seeing as meals were now mandatory…he would have to brave the rest of the student body and go down.<p>

It sickened him to see Gryffindor Tower covered in green and silver tapestries, anyhow. Throwing the colors upon the rest of the school was bad enough, but this particular section of the castle had never had so much as a hint of silver and green on its walls. It had been his refuge for so many years, but now he felt like vomiting every time he looked around him.

He trudged along to the portrait hole and pushed the Fat Lady open. "Mr. Weasley, you must cheer up!" she said kindly. "I don't know what's got you so down at the moment, but you look even more miserable than you did when you arrived back from Hogsmeade this afternoon."

"Just not in a good mood, I guess," he mumbled. The Fat Lady glared at him until he attempted a smile, to which she responded with a cheery "There you go! Now, what do we say whenever we feel down to cheer ourselves up?"

"What?" asked Ron warily; he had never had a conversation this long with Gryffindor's guardian portrait, and seeing as all the other portraits he had seen seemed to be supporting Voldemort these days, he didn't have high hopes for this particular conversation.

"All Hail the Dark Lord! Repeat after me, Mr. Weasley!" Ron shot her a dark look and stalked down the stairs, but she didn't seem to notice. "All Hail the Dark Lord!"

Stewing over the portrait's apparent brainwashing, Ron didn't notice the group of boys waiting for him in the Entrance Hall until he ran right into Geoffrey Hooper. "Oof! Sorry, mate."

"I'm not your mate," he growled. Ron looked around at the other three boys: Andrew Kirke, Jack Sloper, and Ritchie Coote were all glowering. Vicky Frobisher and Demelza Robbins were standing in the doorway of the Great Hall, far enough away to be regulation and close enough to overhear the conversation. "We just need a few words."

"Yeah?" Ron raised his eyebrows. "Go for it, then."

"You've been shooting looks at anything with a skirt for as long as the ban's been going on," Kirke spat. Ron's eyebrows went a little further above his hairline; had he really been doing that? "That's bad enough."

"When you start surprise attacking our friends when they're alone, it becomes a real big issue," added Coote.

"Wait, what? Who did I-"

"You stay away from Demelza and Vicky and all of the others, and make sure your stupid Death Eater friends do the same, got it?" Sloper finished.

"Look, I didn't attack anyone!"

"You sneaked up on Demelza outside The Three Broomsticks and tried to seduce her, that's as good as attacking her," Sloper retorted.

"I was just saying hi! Is that a crime now?"

Geoff narrowed his eyes. "Your friends were cackling about what you were going to do to Loony Lovegood all down the street in Hogsmeade, so don't even start with the whole innocent thing."

"I haven't spoken to _Luna_ in months, thanks very much," Ron retorted, "and if you're referring to the arses that I live with, I can assure you that they aren't my friends anymore than You-Know-Who himself is. I don't associate with Death Eaters."

"That's a laugh!" said Kirke, though no one even smiled. "You've been chumming around with 'em all year, like they was your best mates."

By this time, a substantial crowd had gathered to watch the argument; the girls were on one side of the Great Hall's doors, the boys on the other. "What, nothing to say now that we've got backup?" Coote laughed. "Where are your friends at, anyhow? Too cowardly to own up to their transgressions?"

"I apparently have no friends at this school," Ron said slowly. "I refuse to hang around those prats I live with any longer, and if my fellow Gryffindors refuse to speak to me-"

"Your fellow what, Weasley?" came a snide voice. Kenton Harper and Zacharias Smith stepped up on either side of him, smug smiles on both their faces. "We're all Slytherins here."

"Sod off," he replied.

"Why, Harper, I think he doesn't want to be our friend anymore," Smith said silkily. Ron glared at him especially hard; the former Hufflepuff hadn't wasted a minute renouncing his former ties to Dumbledore's Army and becoming best friends with the Death Eaters he and Ron were assigned to live with. "Too bad for him that he hasn't got a choice."

"I told you to sod. Off," Ron said venomously.

"Why, whatever is going on here?" Umbridge appeared on Harper's other side with a broad smirk.

"Weasley here seems to think he's still a Gryffindor, ma'am, and he doesn't want to be friends with us anymore," Harper answered gleefully.

"Well, well," said the squat Headmistress, "this won't do at all. Mr. Weasley, until you learn your place, I'm afraid I'll have to ask your roommates to accompany you about the castle."

"No, thanks," he said.

"This sort of impertinence will not be allowed. Dolohov," she said with a snap. The Death Eater came forward, dragging someone along by the arm. Ginny. Ron's sister's sudden appearance caused new murmurs to arise from the students collected in the Entrance Hall. "Now, Mr. Weasley, upon your release this afternoon you were informed that your sister's safety would only be guaranteed if you behaved yourself, yes?"

"Yeah," he muttered, though his attention was on Ginny. Her hair was clean, but tangled, and her uniform was ill-fitting. She was much thinner than she had been during the battle and her eyes were devoid of any life. This girl was hardly more than a shell of his sister.

"Then you know that she must receive the punishments for your transgressions. According to our sources, you came into illegal contact with two ladies this afternoon at Hogsmeade, and you've obviously been starting arguments with other students. And then, of course, you claimed to be a Gryffindor, which does not exist. The only punishment severe enough for all of these actions combined can only be the Cruciatus Curse."

"What? NO!" he shouted. It was no good; Dolohov pushed forward on the stairs until everyone could see her clearly. She rubbed her arm vaguely, but gave no sign of realizing she was being watched by everyone in the room. "Do it to me instead, I didn't mean to get her cursed!"

"Too bad, Mr. Weasley. Crucio!" Umbridge's face lit up as Ginny, showing the first sign of alertness, screwed up her face, fell to the stairs, and screamed at the top of her lungs. Other students, girls and boys, screamed as well, and Ron was held back by Harper and Smith as he tried his best to get to his sister. When Umbridge finally lifted her wand, Ginny continued to twitch erratically. "That should do. Now, all of you need to be getting to your suppers. Let's go, students!" She clapped twice and bustled down the stairs, taking care to step around Ginny's trembling form.

Harper and Smith let Ron go, but Dolohov already had Ginny by the wrist and was pulling her roughly to her feet. "You can't go near her, you know. She's a girl, and you're not," Smith whispered.

Ron didn't respond, choosing instead to stalk down the stairs after Dolohov and his sister. Geoff and Jack were still in the Entrance Hall, looking rather abashed as he approached them. Demelza and Vicky watched from their position by the doors in horror as Ginny passed them, then turned as one to look at Ron again.

"Hey, Weasley, I-"

"Shut the bloody hell up," Ron snarled at Geoff. "You just got my sister tortured, you prats!"

"But Ron, we're-"

"Weasley, get a move on. Hanging out with riffraff like that is only going to get you in trouble again." Harper pushed him along, and Ron left Geoff and Jack with one last glare. His eyes swept over the girls again just before he made it all the way into the Great Hall. Demelza seemed to have broken down into tears, and Vicky had her arms around her and was whispering into her ear.

"Ladies, cheer up. He won't get near you again, don't worry," Harper snickered as Ron came to a complete halt. "Come on, Weasley, before they start accusing you again."

Ron stepped into the Great Hall with an eye roll, but his eyes landed on someone who was staring right back at him. Luna Lovegood was sitting at her old table, her eyes wide and her spoon dripping soup onto the open book in front of her. As he stared her down in confusion, her eyes slid from his to Ginny, who was being seated by the Death Eater directly opposite the blonde, and back to his in surprise. Smith poked him in the back and he kept going, but felt Luna's eyes following him.

As he sat at what was once Gryffindor's table and looked around, Ron realized with a start that this was the exact place where Fred's body had lain until after the battle. His eyes filled with tears when he figured out that just a few feet down the row marked the place where he had last held Hermione.

* * *

><p>Hermione stifled a sob as Goyle stood up and leered at her. "Enjoyed it, did you?" When her only response was another sob, he laughed. "Good to know. Now, I think it's time we got to some real torturing, don't you?"<p>

"Please, don't," she cried. "Leave me alone…"

"Now, now, Gregory, it won't do for you to treat our guest so crudely." Hermione sobbed even harder when she heard Malfoy's voice above her. "She deserves special treatment." She opened her eyes to see him kneeling beside her, a cruel smile on his face. "Diffindo!"

"AH!" she screeched at the sudden curse. Blood from her forehead began pouring into her eye from her forehead, forcing her to close it. Malfoy muttered a counter curse, and the cut instantly stopped bleeding, but she still felt the sting of broken skin.

"Maybe we can give her a lightning bolt, and then she'll be just like her stupid friend Potter," laughed Goyle. Malfoy smiled, and another couple of men Hermione couldn't see guffawed.

"I was thinking something a little more original," the blond Death Eater said softly. His wand touched her shoulder, and Hermione tried to curl into a ball and roll away from him. "None of that, now. Petrificus Totalus!"

Her body straightened out, her limbs flew to her sides, and her entire form went rigid. The men laughed again, and Hermione saw Goyle's eyes raking up and down her body. She wanted to shiver but could only let tears fall silently from her eyes. _Someday, I will kill them,_ she thought venomously.

"You're certainly filthy, inside and out, aren't you?" crooned Malfoy. His wand trailed down her body, only stopping once he reached her thigh. He pushed them open slightly and clacked his tongue. "But I think I'll need to clean up this bit here. Scourgify!"

The cleaning spell hurt a lot more on bare skin than she expected; had her vocal cords not been frozen, she would have cried out. Goyle coughed. "What are you doing, Lucius?"

"You'll see." He pointed his wand at the clean section of skin on her leg and whispered an incantation. There was a sharp stinging pain for a minute, but he whispered another spell and it faded somewhat. "I think that will do. We'll have to get the others down here later, I know Yaxley will want in on it, but you three should all do your bit now."

"With pleasure," grunted Goyle. He did the same thing as Malfoy, followed shortly by Macnair and Avery. Each time, the remaining sting was a little worse than it had been previously. They all began to laugh as Avery muttered his second spell, and then Lucius removed the Full-Body Bind. Hermione immediately curled up and began to cry again. She felt completely broken.

"I think we're done here for now, gentlemen. We have other business to discuss." Lucius led the other two Death Eaters out of the cell, still smirking.

"I'll see you tomorrow then, Mudblood. Better be ready for me." And then he was gone, leaving Hermione alone and in darkness.

She must have cried herself to sleep, because the next thing she knew she was being shaken awake by a small hand. "Whozzit?"

"Miss Hermione, is you doing alright?" When Hermione was able to calm down enough to focus her vision, she reeled back in shock. Winky the House-Elf was holding a ball of light in her hand and staring at her with large, concerned eyes. "You is needing food, yes? And clothes?"

"Winky, is that you?" Hermione's voice was hoarse from screaming and sobbing, and her head was spinning so much that she barely recognized herself speaking. "What are you doing here?"

"Winky is doing the work for Mr. Malfoy and his household now, Miss Hermione," Winky whispered. "And Winky is being ordered to make sure Miss Hermione is having proper clothes and dinners from now on, as much as is possible."

"By whom?" Hermione whispered back. It was the wrong question; Winky's eyes filled with fear and her hands began to twitch erratically.

"Miss Hermione, Miss Hermione, I cannot be saying! Winky will be having to punish herself, yes, because Winky is being ordered never to answer that question!"

"Alright, I'm sorry," she whispered frantically. Winky was getting louder with each word she uttered, and if she got too loud someone would come down to investigate. "Forget I said it. If you could get me some bread and water, and maybe some clothes that aren't completely ragged, I would be quite appreciative."

Winky's wrinkled face broke into a wide, rather sad smile. "As soon as she can be doing it she will, Miss Hermione. But Winky must go as soon as possible, yes, as to avoid being seen by other masters, you see."

"Wait, please," she said quietly. "I just…could you hold the light over here a little further?" Winky obliged, but looked away from Hermione's nude form. Her gratefulness was overshadowed by what she discovered on her inner thigh: a list of four names. _Lucius Malfoy_. _Gregory Goyle._ _Walden Macnair._ _Aurelius Avery._ They had signed their conquest. Hermione stared at her leg for a few moments before turning to the side and vomiting up the water she had drunk several hours before.

"Miss Hermione? Is you doing okay?"

"F-fine. If you could get the water now…thank you, Winky," Hermione whispered, but the House-Elf was already gone. Hermione felt around for her old clothes and sighed at the torn fabric. _I wonder who would order her to help me. It isn't as though I'm the ever popular winner of a Mudblood Pageant or something; I'm scum to them._ Now that she was a little more awake, she began to think some more about what Goyle had told her earlier.

_He claimed that Ron was trying to seduce Luna, but Luna felled him. No offense to her, but Ron is a better duelist with a lot more experience. I find it difficult to believe that she could have beaten him alone. So…what does this mean?_

Her mind kept returning to one place: Luna had been accosted by Ron, but someone else came to her rescue and battled Ron away. McGonagall could have done it...but what about other students? Could it have been a fellow member of the DA? Obviously, it wasn't Ginny, but who would want to save Luna? Hermione gasped aloud. _Neville! He would probably do anything to save a friend, especially if that friend was Luna._

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><p>Khgirl08: Hey ya'll. I hope you enjoyed today's update. This chapter has seen more changes than any up to this point, mainly because I basically combined it with the next chapter prior to uploading it. So all of you got a two-for-one deal today! Yay! And you might notice a little something different about the ending that tells you a little something about the next chapter. Let's see how many of you pick up on it.<p>

So do you think Harry will ever rescue Hermione? Do you think Luna will realize that Ron has been freed from the Imperius Curse and explain the situation to him? And what do you think will happen now that Ginny's back at Hogwarts? Feel free to give your opinions about these situations or anything else you like by clicking on that little blue link down at the bottom. You know, the one that says "Review this Chapter." ;)

_Next time..._

"I'd agree with Goyle about that curly-haired bitch."

"My entire family is _dead!_"

"But that's great!"

"I would never lie about that."

"Those two are absolute _dillywerps!_"

"Ginny..."


	5. Chapter 4

Khgirl08: Hey guys! Check out the AN at the end for more information, but owing to my huge load of assignments over the next week I made the decision to post this chapter now rather than tomorrow night. As always, thanks to all of you who have added this to your favorites and/or alerts, and an extra big thanks to my reviewers:

Dragonite8271995, Raayaa, Katesmom2, anon (I wish you would have logged in so I could have responded to you privately :/), and Binn (trolling is a art as they say; I also wish you would have logged in so I could have discussed your fascinating plot bunnies with you)

Enjoy the chapter! See you on the flipside!

Disclaimer: I don't own it. For reals.

* * *

><p>Luna watched with a heavy heart as Umbridge led Ginny Weasley from the common room. She had tried to talk to Ginny after Professor Dolohov sat her unceremoniously at dinner, but the red-haired girl had seemed ignorant of her attempts. Demelza Robbins and Vicky Frobisher had tried the same thing after dinner and received the same results. Until Umbridge had arrived and told Ginny that she was required at a meeting, Luna's oldest friend had done naught but sit quietly in an armchair and stare blankly out the window. All of the girls in the former Ravenclaw tower had tried to ignore her and do homework, though Luna's gaze had often drifted to her friend's fiery hair.<p>

"I don't get it," Demelza said as soon as the door closed. "Why is she back? I thought You-Know-Who had killed her."

"Who knows? But Umbridge or someone has obviously addled her brains," Vicky replied. "I doubt she even knows how to talk anymore."

"That's rubbish," said a first year. Everyone turned to the girl, Polly Olsen, but she continued writing whatever essay she was working on. "Her lips were moving non-stop once you all stopped staring at her. I couldn't hear what she said, but it was definitely something about someone dying."

"How do you know, if you couldn't hear her?" sneered a Gryffindor third-year.

"My younger brothers were both born deaf. My mum taught them how to read lips when they were still pretty little, and I picked up on it," she said shortly. "I rather preferred the quiet atmosphere, actually, because I have to finish this Dark Arts essay in order to stay on track for the weekend, so if you could all keep the theorizing down to a minimum that would be wonderful."

The other girls, especially the older Gryffindor girls, chuckled at this but obligingly kept their discussions to a whisper. "She would totally be a Ravenclaw," said a girl who Luna had saved from the Carrows last fall.

"No, she'd be in Gryffindor," laughed Vicky. Luna and the other nearby Ravenclaws raised their eyebrows incredulously.

"How did you reach that conclusion, Vicky?" Luna asked.

"Are you kidding? She's just like Hermione Granger!" Demelza said, barely holding in her mirth. "She's got the brains, sure, but how many Ravenclaw first years are brave enough to scold the entire common room?"

"I don't know why you keep differentiating between Ravenclaws and Gryffindors," Polly said wearily. Luna smiled at her apologetically; apparently they hadn't been as quiet as she thought. "Those categories were eradicated under the new regime."

"But you don't honestly think that they're gone forever, do you?" asked Demelza, surprise coloring her tone. "Because there's no way that parents will let this go on for much longer."

"If You-Know-Who decides it, it happens," Polly rebutted. "Now, I really need to get back to this essay."

Luna checked her watch and sighed; it was already 8:45, but none of the girls were heading to bed anytime soon. "You've been quiet recently, Luna," Demelza noted. "Is everything alright?"

"Does this mean you don't think I should just stay out of your business now?" asked Luna.

"Well, as long as you aren't threatening to sic Nargles on us..."

"That was just on Astoria Greengrass. She's too pompous for her own good sometimes."

"Ah. Well, yeah, you're good then." Demelza and Vicky exchanged looks before scooting their chairs closer to Luna. "But are you alright after today?"

"You mean with Ginny? I'm sad, of course, but there isn't much I can do right now-"

"No, I mean with Ron Weasley," Vicky said quickly. "He attacked you today, didn't he?"

Luna froze; how had they found out? She had tried to erase that memory, but if he still remembered it...he probably remembered a whole bunch of other stuff. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"His friends were laughing about it all over town. If you need to talk..."

"Ron and I did exchange words, but I left unharmed," she said quickly. "He didn't do a thing to me."

Demelza and Vicky looked skeptical, but Luna pressed on. "Anyhow, I need your help with something."

"What is it?" Both girls looked wary, and she couldn't help but smile.

"I'm going out for a little while. Could you girls cover for me tonight?"

"Wh-what? You're leaving the school?" Vicky asked, her voice a little too loud for Luna's comfort. Romilda Vane and her friends looked over curiously.

"Sh! And yes, but only because I met someone in town earlier who said he could help get my dad out of Azkaban. He wants to meet up to discuss things tonight, when most people will be out."

"But Luna, you'll be caught, and then your dad-"

"Demelza, my father is going to be driven mad in there. He's very fragile since Mum passed away." Luna licked her lips nervously; of course her father _might_ go mad in Azkaban, but as far as she knew he wasn't in there yet. But she had promised Harry that she wouldn't tell anyone that he was, in fact, alive.

"But-"

"Will you help me or not? I'm not asking you to join me, but if anyone asks tell them I'm sleeping or something. Please," she added when both girls looked dubious.

"Well, alright, but-"

"Thank you so much! You won't regret this, I _swear_." Before Vicky could finish speaking, Luna had shoved her sheaf of parchment into her satchel and made a beeline for the door. _Those two are absolute _dillywerps_! I was beginning to wonder if they'd ever let me leave. And that was the easy part; now I actually have to get out of the school._ She looked around to make sure no one was watching before pulling the Invisibility Cloak from her bag and throwing it over herself. Feeling more secure now that she couldn't be seen, she moved through the castle towards the hunched-witch statue on the third floor. Surprisingly, and rather suspiciously in her opinion, she ran into no Death Eaters until she reached the corridor leading to the secret passage. A Death Eater was pacing back and forth, his lined face twisted into a frown. _Here goes nothing..._ "Confundus!" she whispered.

The Death Eater's face was wiped blank as the spell took effect, and Luna hummed in relief. She pulled the Cloak off her head and looked straight into his fathomless eyes. "You should let me use this passage tonight without getting suspicious, until after I come back tonight."

"Yes," he muttered.

"And, of course, there is no need to tell anyone about this temporary arrangement, right?"

"Of course not."

"Good. I'll be going, then." Luna strolled to the witch's statue and tapped it the way Ginny had told her to last year. "Dissendium." It fell open, and she smiled at the Death Eater before dropping herself into the hole.

"Yaxley!" Luna swallowed nervously and pushed the trapdoor mostly shut as new footsteps echoed in the corridor. She would never be able to forget the voice of Lucius Malfoy, but she couldn't understand why he would be at Hogwarts.

"Eh, Lucius? What brings you 'round?"

"Thought I would stop in and chat for a moment. We're going hunting again tomorrow evening, and I thought you might be interested in joining us."

"If you can convince Dolores to give me the evening off, I'd love to. Could always do with some fresh blood." Yaxley, as the Confunded Death Eater was apparently known, barked with laughter. "Of course, I could use with another taste of the old too, especially if that one girl's still around. I'd have to agree with Goyle about that curly-haired bitch. She's brilliant fun."

"She's somehow still alive, at least for now. I've been trying to convince Goyle to kill her, but he insists that he won't find a better Mudblood. I must admit, I do get a certain satisfaction out of hurting her that a different girl couldn't provide. After watching her best Draco for so many years, it's nice to see her in her proper place for once." Luna gasped and threw her hands over her mouth. They couldn't be talking about...

"It's hard reconciling her with the girl the Dark Lord told us about so many times. You'd think one of Potter's best friends would be a little stronger under pressure, wouldn't you?" Luna squeaked in horror around her hands.

"There's still a certain amount of spunk, if you press the right buttons. Speaking of the buttons, I think you need to come and add your mark to her. Macnair, Avery, Goyle and I have all signed her as our property, but there's room for you and the others."

"Ha! That sounds brilliant. Did she cry?"

"She would have, had she not been paralyzed." Lucius muttered something under his breath. "I have to go. Dolores invited me to come watch her play with the Weasleys."

"You have fun, then, and remember to talk to the old hag for me." Footsteps clattered away again, and Yaxley resumed his pacing. Luna put her head against the stone and dirt wall and squeezed her eyes shut, her hands still flung over her mouth to keep from shrieking.

_Oh, Hermione, how are you still alive? What are they doing to you?_ After a few moments of pitying her friend, Luna pushed off from the wall and began the trek toward Hogsmeade. She tried to keep her mind off her friend's predicament, but her attempt led to an equally maddening train of thought. _Malfoy said that he was going to watch Umbridge "play with the Weasleys." Why is he interested in that, exactly? And what is she doing to them, and why? Oh, Merlin, wait until Harry hears about Ginny._

* * *

><p>Ginevra flinched as the red-haired man was thrown across the room by the cruel man who had dragged her all over the castle before. Of course, she hadn't thought him cruel at the time. The Imperius Curse had really messed with her head. She wasn't under it at the moment, for whatever reason, and she couldn't fathom why she had to be in here to watch this poor boy be tortured. She supposed Umbridge thought it funny. <em>Damn that pink-sweatered beast!<em>

"Now, now, Dolohov, that's quite enough for now," the headmistress said on cue. She and a tall, blond man entered the classroom with broad smirks. "We don't want to beat Mr. Weasley _too_ severely, now do we?"

Dolohov grunted and went to stand next to the blond man. The man on the floor struggled to his feet, looking furious but beaten. "What's wrong, afraid to fight me like a wizard? Why don't you lot give me back my wand and we'll see who the better man is?"

"You couldn't duel your way out of a paper bag," said Umbridge. "But if you think you're so strong, you should be able to take a little bit of pain without wincing. Gladius Phantasme!"

"Gah!" The man fell to his knees, his face going white as he clutched at his stomach. Umbridge, Dolohov and their friend laughed as he struggled not to scream, and finally Ginevra could take no more.

"Stop it!" She threw herself in front of the man on the floor, and felt only one sharp prick in her abdomen before Umbridge sneered and turned her wand away. "What did he ever do to you?"

"He existed," said the blonde man. The others laughed, and Ginevra shot a fierce glare at them.

"Gin, seriously, it's alright," said a weak voice from behind her. She turned to stare at the man, who was still breathing heavily but had stopped holding his abdomen. "I'm fine."

"You're not fine, you're hurt!"

"I'd rather they torture me a bit than hurt you," he whispered. She raised her eyebrows incredulously. "Mum would kill me if she found out I'd sat by and done nothing."

"What are you talking about?" she asked. "Who is this 'Mum' person, and why would she care about me?"

The boy's face went paler, if that was possible, and the trio of older people laughed again. "Ginny, don't you-"

"My name is Ginevra, thank you very much." The name rang inside her head, as if it was trying to tell her something. _I must admit, Ginny does feel familiar somehow..._

"Well, yeah, but you hate being called by your full name, threatened to sic me with your Bat-Bogey Hex when I used it last." He squinted at her for a moment, and his eyes widened. "You _do_ remember that. You remember me, right?" When she shook her head, he swallowed and closed his eyes; Ginevra could have sworn she saw tears in them. "I'm your brother, Ron. My mum is your mum, my dad is your dad, my brothers are your brothers."

"Liar."

"I would never lie about this. Never. Ginny, you were taken from us after the final battle, and even through my Imperiused haze I could tell that Mum was absolutely broken. We lost Fred and you, all in one night. You can't honestly tell me that you don't remember her? What about Dad? Or Bill? Or-"

Ginevra screeched in outrage and swung her arm; he recoiled when her palm smacked his face, and the trio stopped laughing. "My entire family is _dead_, thank you very much, and I don't appreciate you telling me lies like this! For Merlin's sake, I thought you were on my side!"

"Ginny, I am on your side!" He jumped up and glared with renewed anger at Umbridge and her friends. "What in the bloody hell did you do to her?"

"Manners, Mr. Weasley."

"Manners? I'll show you-" The man gagged slightly, then made twin obscene gestures at Umbridge.

"Ginevra, dear, I'll have you know that this young man is of a very violent temperament. He is also known for lying, especially to young ladies such as yourself, and I wanted you to be made aware of this while I was around to show you just how bad he really is."

"You aren't much better, _Headmistress_," Ginevra snarled. "If you wanted to convince me of something, why didn't you just leave me under the Imperius Curse while you showed me?"

"I didn't want to force you to believe me, dear," the plump witch simpered. "The only reason I have kept you under the Curse is to teach you to behave properly, but this way the message will really sink in." Ginevra rolled her eyes away from the other witch, and she saw the blond man send a nasty smirk toward the red-haired man behind her. "You'll be back under in a short time."

Before Ginevra could respond, a thick man came bursting into the room, his balding head shining with sweat. "Malfoy, I came quick as I could! We're having a spot o' trouble at the mansion, you need to come an' take care o' it right quick!"

"What is it, Avery?" asked the blond.

"Goyle let some bloke walk off wi' his Mudblood, said he though' it were some trade system or somethin'. We was down there tryin' ter work it out when we realized tha' one o' Bellatrix's prisoners is also gone."

The blond man had paled considerably, and looked to be barely containing his rage. "Which. One?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Longbottom, I think."

"Don't be daft, Avery, the Longbottoms are insane in Mungo's."

"Yes, but they have a son who caused quite a bit of trouble last year," mused Umbridge. "Is it him?"

"Yes," said the blond tightly.

The man behind Ginevra gagged again. She turned to see his eyes wide with shock, and he whispered a single name. "Neville?"

* * *

><p>Neville stared into the crackling fire as an owl hooted somewhere behind him. The cool air was invigorating and his stomach was churning with nerves, so even though he was exhausted he couldn't sleep. Harry, apparently similarly affected by the night climate and future events, had taken to pacing in a circle just outside of the firelight; occasionally his hand or trainer would flit into the light, but he was otherwise invisible. <em>I wish he'd stop. He's making me nervous.<em>

He immediately felt bad for his thoughts and looked down. Though the last year had hardened his personality, Neville still found that he was essentially the same kind boy who had been ridiculed throughout his early days at Hogwarts. The fact that Harry was one of the only people who had been kind to him from the beginning of their student careers was not forgotten to him, so he felt guilty thinking badly of him.

"I wish Luna would find us already," Harry said suddenly, making Neville jump. "I'm going to go back to that other clearing we passed and make sure she isn't waiting for us there."

"Alright, mate. Be careful."

"I haven't been caught yet, have I?" said Harry. And then he was gone, and Neville found that without his friend's pacing his nerves worsened.

_He has a point, though. Luna ought to have been here a while ago._ Neville checked his watch for what felt like the hundredth time that evening and sighed; it was after midnight. _I hope she hasn't been captured._

CRACK. Neville jumped to his feet and pulled out his wand at the sound of the breaking twig, but found that there was no one to point it at. "Who's there?"

"Neville?" asked a startled voice. A figure appeared on the edge of the firelight, obscured by the darkness. "Is that you?"

"Luna?" he breathed. The figure stepped forward, and Neville nearly dropped his wand in relief. Her hair wasn't as crazy as usual, and her Gurdyroot earrings were missing, but the girl staring at him in surprise was definitely Luna Lovegood. "Merlin, it is you!"

"Neville!" Luna tossed Harry's Invisibility Cloak near the fire and jumped Neville, knocking him to the ground. He didn't complain, merely wrapping his arms around her as she nuzzled into the front of his shirt. "Oh, Merlin, I didn't think I'd ever see you again! I thought you were going to be killed or left to rot in prison or have your mind stolen by Lollygagging Yarmples or-or that you'd be forced to fight against us, and I-" The rest of her words were swallowed by sobs.

"Sh, Luna, it's alright. I'm here, and my mind definitely hasn't been stolen by Yarmples." Neville buried his face in her hair. "I missed you so much," he whispered.

Luna raised her head from his chest, and though tears were still pouring down her face her lips were twisted into a slight smile. "Me too." And before he could respond, Luna leaned up and planted her lips on his. His reaction was immediate, and strong. His arms tightened around her frame and one hand came to the back of her head, pulling her closer to him. For the first time since Luna had been taken from the Hogwarts Express, everything felt right.

"Well, well, isn't this romantic," said a cold voice. Luna jumped up and pulled out her wand, but it was taken from her hand with a quick Expelliarmus. "I thought I'd already separated you two lovebirds once. Guess I get to do it again."

Neville sent a silent Stunner at the newcomer, who blocked it with ease and smirked. "I was actually looking for a different escapee, but as soon as I saw Lovegood creeping around that cave I knew I would find something better if I followed her."

_Why did you have to take off the Cloak?_ Neville thought in a panic. The Death Eater was smiling a creepy, dark smile, and Neville stepped in front of Luna on instinct. "If you know what's good for you, you'll drop that wand."

The other man's smile broadened. "How adorable. You actually think you stand a chance against me." Before Neville could move to protect himself, a well-aimed Disarmer had stolen his wand and sent it to the Death Eater's outstretched hand. "I hope you enjoy a good show, kid, because I am going to give you one. You're friends with that Granger Mudblood, aren't you Blondie?"

Luna didn't respond at first, and the man shot a curse at Neville; a large burn appeared on his right arm, and then his hand, and they began to spread as he yelped in pain. "Yes! I am! Please stop!"

"That's what I thought," he said cruelly. Burns stopped appearing, but the damage was done; Neville felt like his arm was on fire. "You and she got rescued together, didn't you? Well, now you get to share something else. Since I may not be able to have her now, I'm going to give you the same treatment we gave her at the manor."

Neville wasn't sure what he meant, but from Luna's choked sob she certainly understood. "You aren't going to touch her!"

"And who's going to stop me, eh? Who's going to stop me from making your girlfriend scream for mercy like that filthy Mudblood?"

"I am." A jet of red light struck the Death Eater in the side of the head, and Harry stepped forward with a furious expression as the man crumpled. "I am going to make sure you never touch another woman again." He whispered a curse under his breath, and a black spell hit its target near his abdomen.

"Merlin, Harry-"

"Are you alright?" he said, refusing to take his gaze off of the unconscious Death Eater. Neville noticed that he was trembling.

"We're both fine," Neville said hurriedly.

"No, you're not. He hurt you," said Luna. She crossed to the Death Eater and picked up all three wands before kicking him hard. "Do either of you have any essence of Dittany?"

"No essence of, no, but I have some raw leaves in my bag." Neville turned towards the fire and began searching the pockets.

"Give me a reason not to murder him," Harry said softly. Neville and Luna looked back at the raven-haired man, who still had his wand trained on the Death Eater.

"Because you should never kill someone in cold blood," Luna replied.

"He would have killed both of you if I hadn't gotten here when I did." Harry's voice and body were trembling so that his tattered robes appeared to be fluttering in a non-existent wind.

"No, he wouldn't-"

"He was going to kill you, Luna, just like he apparently murdered Hermione!" he shouted. Neville got to his feet again and took a step towards his friend, but Luna threw an arm out to stop him. She was crying again, but her face was set determinedly.

"That wasn't what he meant. He was going to do other things first, horrible and unmentionable things, and he was probably going to force Neville to watch, but he wasn't going to kill us for a while."

Harry blinked in surprise, and Neville put a hand on Luna's shoulder; she was shaking like a newborn Mandrake. "How are you so sure?"

"B-because I heard Lucius Malfoy and Yaxley talking about it on my way here. I had just ducked into the passage when Malfoy came to talk to the Death Eater I had Confunded, and they were laughing about Hermione. Malfoy said they had been _signing_ her and he wanted Yaxley to do the same." Luna wiped her eyes. "I didn't know where she was at, but Scabior here said that she was at a manor. Two guesses which one he meant."

"Signing her?" Neville said after a pause. He and Harry were gazing at Luna in absolute horror as she continued to cry. "Why in the name of Merlin's pants would they do something like that?"

"To torture her." Luna turned to bury herself in his chest once more. "If Harry hadn't gotten here..."

"But that's great!" said Harry. Neville and Luna looked at him in shock; he was actually smiling, and running a hand over his head in disbelief.

"It's great that one of your best friends is being tortured in Lucius Malfoy's manor?" asked Neville dubiously.

"No, of course not."

"Then what do you-"

"Hermione's still alive _to_ be tortured," Harry explained. He stumbled toward the fire and sat heavily beside it. "I thought she was dead. I didn't think there was a chance in Hell that she was still alive, especially after what you two told me about what's been happening. I thought she was a goner, along with Ginny and the rest of the Muggleborns in the Wizarding World." Harry's eyes gleamed with tears in the light of the fire.

"Speaking of Ginny, there's something strange going on at the school," whispered Luna. She pulled away from Neville and moved to sit next to Harry; Neville joined them and took her hand in his. She gripped his tightly.

"I thought you said Ginny wasn't there. I thought you said that she was dead."

"Well, she wasn't at the school...until this evening. Dolohov brought her into the Great Hall during dinner and sat her down across from me." Luna smiled sadly. "I tried to talk to her, but she didn't respond. I heard later from Demelza Robbins and Vicky Frobisher that she was tortured in the middle of the Entrance Hall just before that. They also said that she had hardly reacted to anything but the Cruciatus the whole time. I think she's under the Imperius Curse."

"Ginny..." said Harry. He buried his head in his hands and fell silent. Neville saw that Luna's bottom lip was wobbling again, so he rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand.

"It's hard to believe she's still alive," he said softly. "I thought, after what she did that night..."

"Me too." Luna looked down at his hand and clacked her tongue. "Maybe the Yarmples did get your mind, after all. You haven't even tried to fix those burns."

Neville looked at his left hand; three fresh Dittany leaves were encased in his fist. "I started to, but the Hermione thing distracted me."

"Let me." Luna took the leaves from him and began to tear them into pieces. She was exceedingly gentle, and Neville couldn't help but smile at her ministrations. The leaves began to affect the burns almost immediately, making him sigh in relief. "Better?"

"Much." Neville planted a kiss on top of her head, and she giggled. Harry looked up and met Neville's eyes with a half-smile. He understood that the look meant his friend was happy for them, but his green eyes were still wet with tears. _We're probably reminding him of Ginny_, Neville realized sadly. He coughed and pulled slightly away from Luna. "So, then, we've got a lot of work cut out for ourselves."

"We have to rescue Hermione, plan out the attack on Hogwarts, and figure out how we're going to find fighters," Harry said, nodding in agreement with Neville's statement.

"Hang on a minute!" Luna exclaimed. "That Death Eater- he said he was looking for someone else when he saw me, and then he said that he might never get to hurt Hermione again...what if he was looking for her? What if she's escaped?"

Harry and Neville stared at her for a moment before their faces broke into grins. "That would be absolutely brilliant!" cheered Harry.

"Great thinking, Luna, but we still need to be sure," Neville said with equal enthusiasm. "We should probably scope out the manor just to be safe. What do you think, Harry?"

* * *

><p>Khgirl08: I think I'm going to make this a thing. And by "this," I mean the new perspectives. Every fifth chapter, I'll tell the story from three new perspectives. That way, I'm forcing myself to break out of my comfort box. And maybe I'll even let ya'll vote next time. I'm sorry if these three were terribly OOC, but as I'm out of practice writing them...well, this speaks for itself.<p>

But for the next four chapters, we'll be back to the tried-and-true format of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. What will Harry decide to do about...well, about everything? Is Ron ever going to figure out how to get Ginny back to normal, and what about the rest of his old friends? How on Earth did Hermione manage to escape that dungeon? You'll find out!...in a little over a week ;)

Please, review review review! I love getting reviews from you guys!

_Next time..._

"Well, Ronald, I think we've shaken up things a bit."

"My...name?"

"It's never too early to start rebelling, though."

"I'll take the fall for this one, go!"

"I think I'm in love."

"You'll find that you're quite safe here, I assure you."


	6. Chapter 5

Khgirl08: Guess which story is finally being updated, a mere five and a half months behind schedule? That's right, this one! :D Sorry about the wait. If you want to see my excuse and me blubbering for your forgiveness, dear readers, please see the longer note at the end. Meanwhile, I'd like to thank everyone who's added this to their favorites or their watch list, and I'd _especially_ like to thank the following awesome reviewers:

AllWasWell07 (yay indeed!), Katesmom2 (sorry about this, but it is in fact Ron/Hermione and one-sided Harry/Ginny), Bittatatat (this story probably isn't heading in the direction you wanted...), and Raayaa (I am nothing if not highly misunderstanding of like half the stuff I read).

I hope you enjoy this long-awaited chapter!

* * *

><p>Harry stared up at the inky sky, pretending not to hear Neville and Luna's farewell. It wasn't that he was angry, or even jealous of them. In fact, seeing the two of them so happy made <em>him<em> so happy that his heart wanted to burst. Unfortunately, his heart was also breaking with a different, less-than-savory emotion that was hard to ignore.

Ginny was alive, but under the Imperius Curse and obviously tortured. Ron was alive, but he too was under the Imperius Curse and apparently causing all sorts of mayhem as a result. Hermione was alive, but tortured so severely that Scabior had used her condition as a threat towards Luna. Harry couldn't define exactly what he felt at this knowledge, at knowing that his best friends and the love of his life were alive and yet not at all okay, but he knew that it had kept him up all night as he tried to ignore Neville and Luna curled up with one another a few feet away.

"Harry?" He turned his head to see Luna standing near the fire, her eyes red and rather puffy. "Be safe, alright?"

"Of course," he replied, standing up to give her a hug. "You take your own advice."

She sniffled and nodded. "I will." She hugged him back briefly before turning away and sending one last look to Neville, who had followed her across the clearing. "I'll see both of you again in one week's time, if everything goes according to plan."

"We'll be here." Neville squeezed her hand, and she smiled and threw Harry's cloak over herself. They heard a swish and a soft pop as she Disapparated, and Neville's face fell. "I think I'm in love," he whispered. "And it really sucks." Harry was quite sure he wasn't meant to hear that, so he pretended he hadn't.

Even Neville and Luna weren't the same people, Harry realized with chagrin. Kind, bumbling, round-faced Neville had transformed into a fierce and toned warrior, though he seemed to have retained most of his personality. Luna, on the other hand, was horribly down to earth, with only a slight bit of dreaminess in her voice when she talked to Neville. She had, Harry thought, finally seen too much to pretend that everything was alright.

"What now, then?" asked Neville thickly, jolting Harry from his thoughts.

"I think we should probably split up eventually, but for now...maybe we can go to The Burrow together." Harry shrugged. "If the Order is still active, the Weasleys will be in the thick of it for sure. Then we can figure out what to do from there."

"Sounds like a plan, then. You'll have to Side-Along me, I'm afraid, as I'm not entirely sure where we're heading." Neville swept his wand around the clearing, and Harry watched in amazement as all traces of their fire, food, and general presence disappeared. Only Scabior, who was still unconscious but now bound to a tree just outside of the clearing, remained unchanged. Seeing his expression, Neville smirked. "I did learn some useful things at school last year, you know."

"Right." Harry reached for Neville's arm before withdrawing his hand. "Actually, it would probably be better if I went in disguise. After all, I'm supposed to be dead."

"Good point," Neville said. Harry pointed his wand at his own face and muttered the charms Hermione had used on Ron, imagining his nose becoming bulbous and his hair and eyes changing from black to a light brown. As a finishing touch, he folded up his glasses and stowed them in the pouch around his neck.

"Is that good, you think?"

"Probably. Are you ready?"

"Of course." Harry turned on his heel and pulled Neville with him as he concentrated on the only place he still considered home.

There was nothing but an empty hillside when they arrived, much to his shock and that of Neville's. "Did we go to the wrong place?" Neville asked nervously.

"No," Harry muttered, "I can see the village just down there." He gestured towards the surprisingly dilapidated town of Ottery St. Catchpole visible over the hill. "They must just have it protected or something. Look, let's just hang out here and-ouch!" For Neville had just elbowed him sharply in the ribs, looking in the direction of The Burrow in horror.

No less than four angry red-headed wizards were marching towards them, wands drawn and backs straightened with obvious fury. Harry gulped nervously and instinctively gripped his wand, which was apparently a bad move to make; the wizard at the head of the group waved his wand and sent both Harry's and Neville's flying towards them. The tallest one of the group picked them up.

"Who exactly are we looking at, Harry?" Neville whispered.

"I'm not sure," Harry muttered back. Indeed, though he knew that he should know exactly who these sudden arrivals were, he couldn't seem to focus his thoughts to figure it out. It didn't help that his vision was blurry because of his missing glasses. "Wait, we aren't here to hurt you!" he half-shouted toward the oncoming group.

"Yeah, w-we come in p-peace," stuttered Neville, as if he had suddenly regressed to his eleven year old self. Harry couldn't quite blame him, as the small group looked anything but peaceful even without being able to see them clearly.

The four men came to a halt so close to them that Harry could hear their breathing; he could even _feel_ the breath of the man in front. "So," that first man started, "you think you can just invade our property and make it inside safely because you claim not to be our enemies?"

"Er...yes?" Harry answered weakly. "We thought the Order would be able to help us, so..."

"Help you? The Order?" The man on the far right laughed, but there was nothing in his tone that suggested humor. "Right, and I suppose that you're just mimicking a dead man for the hell of it?"

_Damn. Damn damn DAMN_. Harry felt his face and realized with horror that the charm hadn't lasted.

Neville swallowed nervously at Harry's side. "We can just go, if you want," he said with a little more confidence.

"Well, sorry to break it to you, but you aren't going anywhere for now." The men on either end of the group grabbed Neville and Harry respectively and shoved them forward as the center man, who was obviously in charge of the others, continued to speak venomously. "By the time we let you go, you'll have spilled everything that you know and wish you had never come here. Because guess what? You were right; the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix _is_ located at The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole, home of the Weasleys." The last part was spoken in a whisper.

Harry's breath caught as his favorite house in the world appeared before his eyes. Something was dreadfully wrong with it, though; there wasn't a chicken or a vegetable to be seen in the yard or garden, both of which looked rather dead. The shed was completely destroyed, and the house itself was scarred and blackened all around it. Neville stumbled over something -probably a gnome- running in front of him, but the man who was strong-arming him pulled him up with a sharp voice. "Keep moving, prat."

"Arthur?" said a small voice as Harry was shoved into the kitchen. "George, what's-Oh!" A thin witch with frizzy red hair had spotted Harry, and her hands flew to her heart. "Oh!"

"Molly, go upstairs. Take Fleur with you," ordered Arthur Weasley from behind him. Harry belatedly realized that he was the one in charge the whole time. Harry was shoved unceremoniously into a chair and bound tightly by the man he now saw as George, and Neville received a similar treatment from Percy. Bill joined his father in front of them, twirling Harry's wand tauntingly.

"Look, Mr. Weasley, I know you don't know me but my name is-" Neville was cut off by a loud slap from Percy, who looked angrier than Harry had ever seen him.

"In due time, in due time." Bill and Mr. Weasley conjured extra chairs and sat down in front of their prisoners. Bill, who had yet to say a word, smirked when Harry glanced at his wand. "How did you know to find us here?" Arthur asked quietly.

"Mr. Weasley, please, I've been coming here since GAH!" George's fist had just collided with Harry's left shoulder. "Are you going to let me answer or not?"

"No. No, I don't think so. Not yet." Mr. Weasley turned back to Neville, who was now glaring bravely. "Why don't you tell us, lad?"

"I found it because Harry there knew where it was." Mr. Weasley looked at Bill significantly, and the eldest Weasley child pulled Neville's wand from his pocket and pointed it at him.

"Diffindo," he muttered. Harry shouted as a large cut appeared over Neville's eyebrow, but Neville, remarkably, didn't even flinch.

"Why don't you tell us the truth, now?" Mr. Weasley was still staring straight into Neville's eyes, and Percy was now digging his wand into Neville's back. "That was only the beginning."

"The Order of the Phoenix, taking prisoners and torturing them for information? I'm sorry, I must have confused you all with the Death Eaters," Neville spat as blood dripped into his eye. "Albus Dumbledore is rolling in his grave."

"Diffindo." Bill cut through the same spot again, making it bleed even more. "I can keep doing this all day, you know. How does it feel for your own wand to be used against you?"

Neville didn't answer him, refusing to break eye contact with Mr. Weasley. Percy gripped the back of his neck and hissed, "Tell the truth, scum, or it'll be your eye next."

"He isn't lying!" Harry protested. George punched him again, but Harry kept talking. "I'm the one who brought him here, we thought you guys would be able to help us! I was disguised earlier, but your wards apparently made the disguise disappear or something! I swear-"

"You shut it," George said softly. "You, who dare to take on the face of our hero and our brother and step into this home, have no right to speak here. Maybe I ought to curse off your tongue, eh? Then pretty boy blondie over there can be the only one to talk."

Harry felt an odd mixture of gratitude, joy, and horror at George's words. "Just listen to me for a minute, alright? I'm not pretending to be Harry Potter, I really am him!" This time Bill was the one to strike, reaching out with a long arm and smacking him right across the face, but Harry continued undaunted. "When I was twelve, Ron, Fred, and George flew Mr. Weasley's car all the way to Little Whinging and back to rescue me from the Durseleys, and when I was sixteen the twins Stunned a gnome and used it as an angel on the Christmas tree."

"You could have learned that from anywhere," Percy noted cooly. "You probably went to Hogwarts and heard our youngest brother talking about such things."

Harry rolled his eyes, but at least know one was stopping him from talking. "That's a bit of a stretch, but fine. How about the time when you, Percy, wrote Ron a letter telling him that he needed to stay away from me and befriend Umbridge? Or when you were in Dumbledore's office with the rest of the Ministry crew and Dumbledore escaped from right under your noses while you and Fudge and Umbridge laughed about finally getting him for something? And you, Bill, you met your wife-"

"Don't you bring her into this!" thundered Bill, but Harry spurred on.

"You met your wife for the first time before the third task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, when you and your mum came to see me with the other contestants' families." Bill sat back, and Harry would have placed money that his mouth was gaping open. "And Mr. Weasley," Harry swallowed deeply as he decided to bring out something that he knew would convince them, "you call your wife 'Mollywobbles' when you're alone."

Mr. Weasley's coughed as all three of his sons and Neville turned to him. He didn't, however, fall silent. "I'll admit, you seem to know a lot about us." Harry started to respond, but he held up his wand and pointed it at him, effectively shutting him up. "But there's still one thing left to do. Finite Incantatem Totalum!"

Harry felt his hair blow back as the spell hit him, but he already knew that nothing would come of it. All four Weasleys watched him closely (George literally leaning over him to do so), but as he had no spells on him at the time nothing about him changed. "Merlin's beard," Bill whispered. "He isn't lying."

"It could be Polyjuice," Percy said half-heartedly, but Neville shook his head.

"Search him, then, and search me, too, but you won't find any Polyjuice anywhere on us. He told you already, his disguise came off when he Apparated us here. For the love of Godric Gryffindor, into whose house we were all Sorted, will you just believe us?"

George spluttered from behind Harry and ran around in front, kneeling before Neville and pushing his hair from his eyes. "_Longbottom_?" he asked in shock.

"Yeah, George, Longbottom," Neville said sourly. George made a noise of disbelief and used his wand to cut his bonds. "Thanks for that, I guess."

"As in Neville Longbottom?" Percy peered down at him in surprise. "Dear lord, you look nothing like you used to."

"This is all very heartwarming, mind, but could you please cut mine off too so we can get around to talking? We have some important...information..." Although the Weasleys seemed to believe him now, their expressions had once again become poisonous. He didn't need his glasses to know that they looked like they were about to murder him. "Uh..."

"You left us for dead, Potter," George sneered. "You ran away, after so many people _died_ for you, after FRED died for you. You chickened out and ran for it, and you expect us to just welcome you back with open arms?!" All of a sudden, George was shouting, and tears were streaming down his face. "You were like a brother to us, you bloody prat! Ginny gave up her life in an attempt to avenge you, Fred and Remus and Tonks all gave it up before that, and for what?! So you could go hide out until things had calmed down!"

"No, that's not-"

"You really shouldn't have come back here, Harry," said Bill menacingly. "You should have realized that if You-Know-Who didn't kill you, we would."

Harry was horribly reminded of Sirius's and Remus's speech to Wormtail in his third year, especially when all four Weasley men stood and raised their wands. "This is what you get for being a coward," Percy hissed. "I hope Hell is absolutely torturous."

"No, wait!" Neville jumped in front of Harry, shaking his head. "Harry didn't run. Just listen to what he has to say first, please. It'll be worth it."

Harry didn't wait for the Weasley's to give permission, he just started. He told them everything, from his meetings with Dumbledore to the long months camping out and making no progress to the night of the final battle, and everything after he woke up. Neville had long stepped aside when Harry told them just why Ginny had been so upset in the lead-up to the wedding and why Ron had spent so long at Shell Cottage instead of being with him and Hermione. From the shift in their stances, he knew he was winning them over.

"And when Luna got to the campsite and we fought off Scabior, she told us that Ginny had been brought back to the school under the Imperius Curse. She's going to try and break its hold on her, but in the meanwhile she'll be working alone at restarting the DA for its third go." Harry sighed at the end of his story. "Are there any more questions? If not, feel free to kill me or untie me at your leisure," he said with just a hint of bitterness.

George was the first to act. He stumbled past Harry with a sob and ran out the kitchen door.

"Is he...is he alright?" Neville asked in concern.

"No," said Percy shortly, wordlessly vanishing the rope around Harry and clapping him on the shoulder. Harry nodded in thanks and put his glasses back on as Bill and Mr. Weasley both gave him brief hugs.

"George hasn't been alright since the battle. Losing a twin would, of course, be more than enough to break anyone," said Bill quietly, "but George has lost absolutely everyone he would have leaned on for support. Percy and I are too old and unlike him to really help him through everything, and Dad here has been trying to help Mum whenever he's home. Fred and George were always more friendly with Ginny and Ron, not to mention Lee Jordan once they got to school, but seeing as they're all gone now..."

"Wait, where's Lee?" Harry asked. "He didn't..."

"He's in Azkaban, along with Kingsley and Aberforth and who knows how many other Order supporters," Percy answered. "Everyone who didn't have family to hold against them was taken there. They couldn't be made to behave, see, like we could. They'll kill Ron if we step a toe out of line."

Mr. Weasley excused himself as Harry digested this information. "So there's no one left, then?"

"Of course there is." Bill sat back down in his chair and waved his wand at Neville, healing the cut on his forehead. "It was just people who were in the Great Hall who got captured, really. Charlie had just arrived when we fell, so he high-tailed it back here and hid out. He's in Wales right now, trying to drum up some support from everyone who's hiding down there. And then we have Hestia and Dedalus running a rescue system from their hideout. For obvious reasons I can't tell you everyone involved with that, but they just had another success last night, I believe. Brings it up to..."

"About forty-seven prisoners rescued since mid-May, I believe," Percy finished.

"May? You've been doing stuff like that for this long?" asked Neville incredulously.

"Yeah," chuckled Bill.

"It was rather difficult to hide what we were up to from Ronald, and we definitely had some issues rounding up the remainder of the Order. It's never too early to start rebelling, though, especially when it's against a group so evil as the Death Eaters."

Harry grinned, but before he could respond he heard two shrieks from upstairs. Footsteps came pounding down the stairs, and Harry had barely leaped to his feet when Molly Weasley pulled him into a hug so tight that his glasses were knocked askew. "Harry! Oh, Harry!"

"Eet eez true, zen!" said Fleur excitedly from the doorway. Bill crossed to her and took her hand. "'He Who Mus' Not Be Named was lying to us all!" She grinned and looked down at her stomach, which Harry realized she was holding oddly. "Mon ami, zere is now no need to fear," she whispered.

When Molly finally released Harry and began fussing over him, he felt a strike of familiarity so intense that he couldn't keep from grinning over the top of her head at the man behind her. His smile faded somewhat when he realized he was looking at Neville and not Ron.

* * *

><p>Ron cringed as Harper swung his fist into the third year's jaw. "You thought that would be funny, did you?" he screamed. "Leaving your bag out in the middle of the floor so I'd trip over it?"<p>

To the third year's credit, he didn't let a single tear fall. "I just dropped it a few seconds ago," he mumbled. "I didn't mean to trip you up, Kent."

"I think you're too much like your former House, prat!" Kent bellowed. The entire common room had fallen silent by this time. Ron didn't know the kid's name, but he had been a first year Gryffindor during Ron's sixth year. "Thought you'd start rebelling against the great Slytherin?!"

"No," he said, shrinking back. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"Damn straight," Harper snarled. "Crucio!"

At the sight of the tiny third year twitching and screaming on the ground, Ron finally snapped. "Leave him be, Harper." Ron pulled out his wand and waved it at his dormmate almost casually, causing the younger wizard's wand to fly from his hand and the curse to stop. "You know he didn't mean to trip you up."

"Watch yourself, Weasley, or you'll be next," Smith said from Ron's side. The third year had climbed to his feet, shaking all over, and dashed up to his dorm, not even bothering to take his bag. His friends grabbed it for them, glaring at Harper and, to his bemusement, Ron as they followed the other boy.

"What the hell was that about?!" Harper asked as he retrieved his wand from underneath a couch. "You completely undermined my authority!"

"What authority?" replied Ron, turning back to his Potions book and highlighting a passage about the use of porcupine quills in Incinerating Poison. "If you haven't noticed, there are no prefects anymore. Did one of the _staff_ give you permission to bully and torture other students?"

"No, but-"

"So the only people who are allowed to punish students are professors and other staff members," Ron said calmly, trying not to lose his temper even more. "Therefore, you were out of line."

"Why, you!" Harper jumped him, and they began trading blows as if they were the Muggle boxers Hermione's parents supposedly sponsored. Ron heard the other students explode in conversation as they fought; apparently this was the first time many of them realized that Ron was no longer Harper's friend after all.

_Well, Ronald, it seems we've shaken things up quite a bit._ For some reason, the voice in Ron's head sounded a lot like Hermione, and that realization made him punch Harper all the harder.

"Boys!" squeaked a voice from the portrait hole. The Common Room at large turned to see Professor Flitwick trying and failing to climb through it. Ron disentangled himself from the fight and went to pull him through when everyone else simply stared. "Ah, thank you Mr. Weasley. But you and Mr. Harper should be ashamed of yourselves, dueling like _Muggles_," he continued, obviously disgusted that they would fall to that level. "That's what we have wands for."

"Yes, sir," they muttered as one.

"But that is not why I came up here this morning." The diminutive wizard pulled his wand out with a flourish and pointed it at the notice board. Three posters of wanted wizards appeared on top of the usual threats and rules notices. "Two of these men are wanted for crimes against pure-blood wizards in Ireland, and it is speculated that they may try to rejoin the student body sometime in the near future. They have been seen in the company of two young witches in a town not far from the school. If you see either of these two at any time, you must tell me or another staff member immediately.

"The third wizard is much more dangerous. He has recently escaped from a top security cell, and it is suspected that he will attempt to stage an attack on any students he happens upon. If you spot him, find a staff member or upperclassman immediately, or attack him on sight. He will not hesitate to kill any student here." Flitwick sighed loudly, as though saying all of that had exhausted him. "Mr. Weasley, when you have had a chance to review these posters your presence is required in the staff room," he added quietly.

Ron resisted the urge to roll his eyes and nodded curtly. Flitwick turned on his heel and jumped back through the portrait hole as the common room descended upon the notice board. With the advantage of being a good head taller than nearly everyone else around him, Ron had no problem reading the posters from the back of the group.

The first was a poisonous green, meaning the subject was a Muggleborn. When his eyes fell on the picture Ron had to stop himself from gasping in shock. "Dean Thomas, Muggle. Crime: stealing the wand of a witch or wizard and claiming it for his own. Crime: unprovoked attack on a Pureblood couple in Derry. Crime: string of petty thefts across Ireland and the northern U.K.," he read aloud. _What a load of rubbish,_ he added silently. Next to him on a purple poster was a laughing, sandy-haired boy. "Seamus Finnegan, Half-Blood. Crime: unprovoked attack on a Pureblood couple in Derry. Crime: string of petty thefts across Ireland and the northern U.K. Crime: assisting a Muggle in stealing magic." When Ron looked closely, both of the photos seemed to match up; Dean's hand kept sweeping behind Seamus's head, and every once in a while a blonde ponytail came into view.

"Colin Creevey took that one," said someone in front of Ron. Jack Sloper and Andrew Kirke were staring at the posters in disgust. "It was the night that Dumbledore died. I remember because he was running around everywhere with that confounded camera of his instead of studying for his O.W.L.s, and I thought his classmates were going to kill him." Jack fell silent and looked at the floor, presumably remembering that Colin was killed not a year later.

Shaking his head, Ron let his gaze fall on the third, bright-orange poster. This meant, like Flitwick had indicated, the Death Eaters felt that this fugitive was incredibly dangerous to anyone. When Ron's eyes focused on the photo, he almost laughed aloud; Neville Longbottom wouldn't harm an innocent student if someone paid him. _Unless he's Imperiused and this "escape" is a trick or something,_ he thought sadly. He noted that no crimes were listed; instead, readers were urged to capture or kill him on sight. _I wonder why they think he's coming here?_

"Move it, Weasel." Harper shoved Ron aside and snorted. "Would you look at that? Geez, you add in the Boy Who Ran and Died and you'd have all of your old dormmates!"

"Ha! Like Longbottom could actually be a threat," said Nott from Harper's side. "I could kill him with a blindfold on and no wand."

"Who couldn't? And I remember that black kid from Potter's stupid defense club. He was only really good at blowing things up. I don't want to know what he did to that couple." Zacharias grinned. "Merlin, that was a bunch of idiots. Full of Muggles and Squibs."

Ron turned away, but he couldn't stop himself from giving Smith a parting shot. "You'd know, Smith. You could barely Disarm by the end of it. It's no wonder you ran from the only real battle you could have taken part in." He heard a curse hit the wall beside the portrait hole just after he jumped through it and smiled broadly as he made his way to the staff room, using every shortcut he could remember.

"Don't you know any other anti-jinxes, Geoff?" Ron stopped cold as he approached the end of a tapestry passageway. That voice sounded so familiar, but more importantly it sounded female. If they were caught together...

"I'm not the one living with a bunch of former Ravenclaws, Vicky. If Finite Incantatem doesn't work, I don't know what to do." Geoff sighed impatiently. "I can't believe I turned the entire wall maroon. Last year that spell just wrote the message we wanted."

A cat meowed suddenly, and Vicky gasped. "Oh no! That's Mr. Cuddles!"

"Who?"

"Umbridge's cat, idiot! He's even worse than Mrs. Norris. She's gonna be here any minute, and this is a dead-end! Geoff, they'll kill us!" Vicky was rapidly descending into hysteria, and Ron burst from the tapestry and cast Muffliato before she screamed. "Waaaah!"

"Where'd you just come from?!" Geoff gasped. The wall opposite the passage was, indeed, entirely maroon, and both students were splattered with the color. Ron shook his head.

"This is a passage that'll take you to the North tower. If you guys don't want to get caught, I'd go right now." Ron stepped out of their way and gestured them toward the tapestry, but they just stared. "Look, I'm not trying to trick you or anything, but you're both covered in the stuff, not to mention that you're both dead if they find you together! I'll take the fall for this one, go!"

Vicky finally took Geoff's hand and pulled him through the tapestry without another word, and Ron barely had time to smear some of the paint on his face and robes when Umbridge and Travers appeared in the corridor, panting for breath. "Why, Mr. Weasley!" said Umbridge in surprise before she smirked. "What on Earth were you doing down here?"

"Professor Flitwick asked me to come down to the staff room, and I had used the passage that's behind this tapestry as a shortcut. I found myself going over spells in my head, and when I came out I accidentally said one of them out loud, and I guess I overdid it a little." Ron shrugged.

Umbridge's smirk broadened. "And why would a young man such as yourself be using the color maroon?"

"Mum always had a different color for each of us kids," he explained, though he left out the fact that Harry and Hermione were eventually granted their own colors. "Every Christmas we'd get a jumper in that color. Mine was always maroon, and I guess it's become my favorite." _Well, if that isn't the overstatement of my lifetime, I don't know what is, but it fits, I guess._

"Oh, your mummy liked to dress you in purple, did she?" Travers snickered. "It explains a lot, dunnit?"

Ron growled under his breath but didn't say anything aloud, and Umbridge finally nodded. "Well, we'll have our next batch of detentioners clean it up. We've got more important things to do at the moment. Follow me, and remember to keep quiet in the corridors."

Travers gestured for Ron to go before him, and he poked his wand into his back every few seconds. Ron wanted to turn around and sock him or break his wand or anything that would prove that he still had some modicum of control over his life, but he managed to convince himself that it was a battle better fought another day. _Just think, someday, somewhere, somehow, someone will start a revolt, and you'll get to join in and make these monsters pay for every time they've wronged you._

"Thank you, Travers. If you could keep watch out here," Umbridge said when they reached the staff room. He grunted and pointed his wand at the door; it unlocked with a click, and Ron was slightly baffled as to why it was locked in the first place. "After you, Mr. Weasley." She waved Ron through the doorway with her swollen, stubby little fingers, and he had to force himself not to roll his eyes as he passed her. He was so startled by the sight before him, however, that he almost managed to forget all about revenge on Umbridge and her squadron of Death Eaters.

Jimmy Peakes and Ritchie Coote were sitting on one side of a long table, leaning over it to talk to the girls sitting on the other side. Demelza Robbins was nodding at their words, but she was watching Ginny closely. The youngest Weasley was paler than she had been the previous night, and her hair was even more tangled. He coughed loudly to get their attention, as they obviously hadn't realized that Umbridge was back. Ritche and Jimmy sat back immediately, and Demelza took her hand from Ginny's arm. Ginny didn't react at all.

"Have a seat, on the boy's side of the table of course," said Umbridge in a sickeningly-sweet voice. Ron took that tone to mean that she was barely containing her anger. "I shall be back in just a few moments, but Travers will be just outside with his wand aimed at the door. I suggest none of you try to leave before you've been given permission."

The door had barely shut behind her when Ritchie grumbled and pinched the bridge of his nose. "What does she want with us, anyway? It's not like any of us have done anything wrong!"

"Well, someone may have said something about us being together at Hogsmeade," Demelza said sadly. "I'm just glad that the others weren't brought in, too."

"That might make sense for you two," Jimmy put in, "but I wasn't even allowed to go to Hogsmeade, remember? That prat Yaxley accused me of brushing up against that Greengrass girl, and she lied and said I did. I was busy having my fingers cut off and reattached yesterday."

Ron paled and glanced at Jimmy's fingers, some of which now looked uneven. He expected the others to cry in outrage, but they just nodded understandingly. "It never gets easier, does it?" asked Ritchie.

"Wait, what?!" Ron leaped from his seat and the others turned to stare at him. "Are you saying they've done that to you guys before?!"

"Well, yeah," said Demelza. "Don't you remember? You and your friends were laughing about it once because you went and got Drew in trouble for something that Smith kid did. Some of his fingers didn't work right for weeks."

Ron felt liked Demelza had punched him in the gut. _Did I really do that? No wonder they all hate me now._ "Look, guys, I'm really sorry about that. I really don't remember, and you know I'd never do that."

Ritchie, Demelza, and Jimmy exchanged strange glances. "What exactly are you getting at there, Weasley?" Jimmy finally asked.

"I was under the Curse until yesterday, but just before I spoke to you, Demelza, they freed me." Ron smiled bitterly. "They're keeping me in line by threatening to torture Ginny, like you all saw yesterday, and as of last night they're using me to keep her in line. Of course, she doesn't even remember me, so-"

"She might, once the Imperius comes off," Demelza said. "They're probably just forcing her to pretend."

He shook his head. "No. Last night they brought both of us down here, and Umbridge removed the Curse for a bit and had me tortured in front of her. She doesn't remember anything, and she thinks all of her family and friends are dead."

Geoff turned to Ginny, who was staring straight ahead and sitting with an abnormally straight back. "Ginny? You really don't remember us?" She didn't respond, and he leaned over and shoved her hand gently. "Come on, answer me."

"She's been like that since she got here," said Demelza. "Last night we tried to get her to talk, but she didn't say a word to any of us."

"Apparently she only goes by Ginevra now," Ron responded. "She told me that her name wasn't Ginny, it was Ginevra Weasley."

"And she was quite correct," Umbridge said from the doorway. Everyone but Ginny turned to the doorway, and Ron gave a start. After a second look it was obvious that Umbridge was accompanied by a very frazzled-looking McGonagall, but with the way her hair was sticking out in every direction he could have sworn that she was Hermione.

* * *

><p>Hermione awoke with a start when light struck her face, and she put up a hand to block it out until she could adjust to it. <em>Why is that wand light so much brighter than usual? Wait, no…it can't be!<em> She lowered her hand and cried out in shock; she wasn't sitting propped against a stone wall in Malfoy's dungeon but was stretched out on a bed in a neat, if incredibly dusty, home. "Where am I?!"

"Oh, Miss Hermione, you is awake!" Winky the House-Elf popped up beside her bed, making her scream again. "Is Miss Hermione okay?"

"Winky, what-where-how-"

"You is being rescued, Miss, last night after you were asleep. Winky is helping them, you see, on orders from her master." Winky grinned shyly. "She is being told not to tell nobody your name, but to help the Order members to get you out safely."

"The Order of the Phoenix?" When Winky nodded, Hermione felt slightly faint. "They're still active? They rescued me from _inside You-Know-Who's British base_?!"

"Oh, yes, Miss Hermione, yes!" Winky cried with joy. "You is free now!"

Hermione couldn't help but grin at those words even as tears began to stream down her cheeks, but she was still confused. "Where exactly am I, then?"

"At a safe house of the Order's, Miss. Winky is being asked to make sure you are alright now, but she is having to return home as soon as possible. Here is a letter from the Order." Winky snapped her fingers and a letter appeared on the bed beside Hermione. "Is there anything else you is needing?"

"I-I don't think so, unless…there's food here, right? And water?"

Winky smiled. "Of course! And this place is being protected by a whole lot of spells and charms, and the food will never spoil and all of the appli-applesance- all of the Muggle things in the house is being operated by magic."

Hermione nodded. "Alright, then. I don't need anything else, so you should go. But Winky?"

"Yes, Miss Hermione?"

She smiled. "Tell whoever your master is that I thank them, alright?"

"Yes, Winky will." With a snap of her fingers, Winky disappeared from the bedroom. Hermione took the letter, stood up slowly, held on to the wall for balance when the room swayed in front of her, and made her way into the hallway through the open bedroom door. A staircase led down to the ground floor, and four more rooms were on the first floor. Deciding that her rumbling stomach needed to be taken care of before anything else, she wiped her eyes of tears and made her way downstairs and into the kitchen. Winky had apparently been down here already, as every surface was spotless.

The refrigerator was humming with what seemed to be electricity, but Hermione could see the plug laying pointlessly on the floor. Like the House-Elf had promised, the appliances seemed to be running on magic. Inside were all the trappings of a feast: fruits and vegetables and meats of every kind, not to mention two quarts of milk and several varieties of cheese. Hermione grabbed an apple and one of the quarts of milk, still hardly daring to believe that she could have as much of this food as she wanted, and set them on the dining table with the letter. Finding a glass for her milk took all of a few seconds, as the kitchen was organized very much the same as the one at her parents' home.

Once her milk was poured and she had taken a very satisfying bite of the apple, she opened the letter with trembling hands.

_Dear Former Prisoner,_

_We, the Order of the Phoenix, recognize that you are now freed of the dungeon of Malfoy Manor. You have been brought to Number 4 Privet Drive in Little Whinging, Surrey, which is one of our safe-houses. By reading this letter, penned by Hestia Jones, Secret Keeper of this property and member of the Order of the Phoenix, you are now informed of this location. As of now you are the first prisoner to find refuge in this particular house, but more may join you eventually. Also note that you are not permitted to leave this property. As such, if you try to leave via any magical or mundane means, you will fail. Do not fear. You'll find that you are quite safe here, I assure you._

_At approximately eleven o'clock in the morning of the day you read this, representatives of the Order will return to this safe house to brief you more thoroughly of the details surrounding your rescue. We will also bring a supply of wands in the hope that you can find one to use as your own. Please be aware of the time so that we do not startle you or come upon you in a compromising position._

_Yours Most Sincerely,_

_Hestia Jones_

_Order of the Phoenix_

Hermione read through the letter thrice before dropping it on the table and taking a drink of her milk. "Apparently I'm as much of a prisoner here as I was at Malfoy Manor, though they're obviously treating me with more class," she said scornfully. "But I wonder why this address sounds so familiar? I've never been to Little Whinging before." When she had finished her milk and mostly devoured the apple, she put the remnants of her meal in the sink and went back upstairs. A clock at the top of the staircase told her that it was just after 9:30 in the morning.

"I should probably get myself cleaned up a bit before these Order members get here," she mused. "I wonder which one of these is the bathroom?" The first door she tried led to an over-crammed bedroom, full of posters of Muggle bands that made Hermione cringe. The second one seemed much the same at first glance, but as she made to go to the next one something bright red caught her eye.

"Is that a Gryffindor pennant?" she asked in amazement. It was indeed a flag for her house at Hogwarts, and as she stepped in to examine it she realized that this was almost certainly the room of a witch or wizard. There were piles of books and papers all over the floor, as well as a multitude of broken quills and old candy wrappings. She picked up a copy of _Hogwarts: A History_ with a suspiciously familiar scratch down the front cover and felt faint again. It wasn't until she spotted a large and detailed list of dates pinned to the wall that she realized what was happening. "My…name?"

The line in question was indeed Hermione's name. "September 19th: Hermione's Birthday. Book or something for Crookshanks." The scrawling was so familiar that Hermione burst into tears again.

She turned back towards the door and picked up a large, dusty jumper. It was scarlet with a golden lion on it, and had that feel of one of Mrs. Weasley's finest Christmas creations. She wasn't even able to make it to the bed before she collapsed in a fit of sobs. The room she had invaded, the list of dates on the wall, the jumper she was holding…they all belonged to Harry.

* * *

><p>Khgirl08: If you're still here, I hope this means you enjoyed the chapter. If not, I apologize, because it would be really quite awful if you had been waiting for this for so long only to find out it was no good.<p>

I really have no excuse for this being so late, at least not a reasonable one. I went through graduation and losing my best friend to a cross-country move within a week of the last post, and then my computer went kaput for a while and by the time I got it back my muses had packed up and gone on an extended vacation. But they've finally come home to me, obviously, and hopefully they've exhausted their need for sightseeing and can get back to work on a more permanent basis.

Hopefully I'll be back to updating this once a week, but I won't make any promises. If so, you can expect a new installment next Saturday night/Sunday morning. In the meantime, reviewreviewREVIEW! :D

_Next time..._

"He's not wrong about that."

"I won't."

"I'm sorry, but it's not like we have a whole lot of other options these days."

"Look, you and I both know that-"

"Leave me alone!"

"Obliviate!"


	7. Chapter 6

A/N: And ten months later, she finally updates again! I apologize for the lack of updates on this front, really I do, but the good news is that this is a ridiculously long chapter (over 10,000 words not including author's notes!). If you're still reading/following this story after all this time, thank you so much for your continued support! I do intend to go back through the older chapters and update them with corrections and minor adjustments, but nothing major, and hopefully I can continue to churn out a new chapter on a more regular basis.

Anyhow, enjoy this chapter! It's rather Hermione heavy, because it just took a while to write her section out this time 'round, but hopefully the lengths will be more even the next time.

* * *

><p>"Harry, dear, another roll?" Molly nudged the basket closer to his plate, but Harry shook his head and pushed it back.<p>

"Really, Molly, if I eat anything else I'm going to be sick." She frowned slightly but returned her gaze to her own plate. Harry looked around the table with a heavy heart as he waited for the others to finish eating. The joy of the reunion with his adopted family had soured minutes after the occasion when he realized how changed all of them were.

Bill's face was lined with the concern and stress of a man twice his age, and with his scars the new wrinkles made him resemble Mad-Eye more than ever. Though Fleur's stomach was bulging with their baby, the rest of her was gaunt and pulled, as if her skin had somehow shrunk. Molly had lost so much weight that she was hardly bigger than Fleur, and her hair was streaked through with gray; Arthur's hair had nearly fallen out completely. Percy's hair had grown long and messy, and he too had aged tremendously. George had never come back inside, and no one but Harry and Neville had expressed surprise over that.

Most worrisome was the silence that hung over the kitchen. Other than Molly's attempts to press more food upon the other diners, nobody had spoken. This was such a removal from Harry's other experiences in the Burrow that he was unable to come to grips with it. No one aside from Neville would even meet his eye, nor indeed anyone else's.

"What can we do?" said Neville. The Weasleys jumped at his voice. "Where do you need help the most? As long as it doesn't involve a lot of Potioneering or Transfiguring, I'm up for anything."

"As am I," Harry responded. "We can't just sit around all day. Maybe we can go down to Wales and help Charlie, or help Hestia with some of the rescuing?"

"Ah." Arthur adjusted his glasses. "Well, I suppose-"

"No." Molly stood up and took the empty sausage plate to the sink. "No. You aren't leaving again."

"Mum," Bill started. The sausage plate fell into the sink and shattered as Molly turned around.

"For months, we've thought Harry was dead. Dead! I've already lost children, I am not losing another when he's here and safe in the Burrow!" She fell against the counter with a sob. "I couldn't b-bear it."

"But…" Neville raised an eyebrow at Harry as Arthur stood to comfort Molly. "Has she lost someone other than Fred?" he whispered.

"I bet no one told her about Gin." Neville's eyes lit up with understanding and Harry joined Arthur by the Weasley matriarch. "Molly, maybe you didn't hear this bit, but Ginny isn't dead. She's back at Hogwarts."

"It doesn't matter!" she wailed. "Ron and Ginny are as good as gone. We'll not be able to save them from the Imperius Curse, we all know it, and if we're caught doing anything for the Order both of them are going to die, and then we'll be responsible, and it's…it's…"

"Love," Arthur said sadly, "I know how you feel. But you can't keep everyone locked inside all the time. In this environment, with everything happening, we have to fight. I'm sorry, but it's not like we have a whole lot of other options these days. Besides, you can't know that Ron and Ginny are gone forever. If Luna Lovegood was able to come back into her own mind, they may well be able to as well."

She sniffled and pushed away from the sink. "I can't bear it," she said thickly. She shoved past Harry and fled the kitchen, leaving everyone in yet another silence.

"I will talk to 'er," Fleur finally said, and went after the older woman with light footsteps.

"Everyone done?" Arthur said. No one responded, and he waved his wand at the table. The dishes floated to stack themselves in the sink on top of the freshly-repaired sausage plate. "I hope George doesn't get too hungry."

"He won't," said a voice from the doorway. George leaned against the frame as everyone looked to him. "I've been thinking."

"About what, exactly?" asked Percy as he pushed in his mother's chair.

"The Death Eaters have been swinging 'round every few days to make sure we aren't putting up any fugitives, right? Using magic to count us and everything?"

"Oh," breathed Bill. "Yes, that will be problematic."

"We can't stay here, then." Neville looked at Harry sadly as he, too, stood up. "We're putting all of them in danger."

"Just a minute, Longbottom," George said. "If I recall correctly, you took over as leader of the DA last year, yeah?"

"Well, yeah, along with Luna and Ginny, but why is that important now?"

"If we're going to lay siege to Hogwarts, we're going to need some help." Percy shoved his glasses up his nose. "Dumbledore's Army had a penchant for planning rescues from the dungeons, and we have an awful lot of supporters locked up right now."

Neville paled slightly. "Wait a minute, if you mean planning an escape from Azkaban-"

"And from other places. And even disregarding all of that, we'll need someone who has experience planning routs in Hogwarts, and our number of experts on that front has dwindled." Bill looked Neville up and down and nodded. "You'll do just fine."

"It's one thing to have planned escapes from the Hogwarts dungeons and pranks on the Carrows, but…" Neville shook his head. "Besides, I'm still an extra person. If Harry and I are caught here, all of us will pay the price."

"The thing is, they never come inside. Which is why I'm leaving." Everyone looked at George in astonishment. "I can do more good helping Charlie than I can around here."

"Aside from the Marauders, and maybe including them, you've been involved in more Hogwarts pranks than anyone else. You know everything about the school," Harry retorted. "You could probably help out more here than anywhere else."

"Fred was the one who knew a lot about the school," George said quietly. "He had the map we both used." Everyone nodded except for Harry, who opened his mouth to respond. George shot him a look, and he closed his mouth again. "Neville really needs to be here helping out, but Harry has a lot of experience traveling around if his story from earlier is to be believed. If the two of us left, the Death Eaters would never realize that anything changed."

"That sorts that, then." Arthur frowned slightly. "I worry about you going right now, though. Your mother is in a bad way."

"It won't get any easier on her if I wait around an hour or a week. I'll run up and pack a few things and tell her goodbye, and then…"

"You're leaving?" Molly's voice came into the kitchen, pathetically thin. Fleur helped her inside as tears flowed down her cheeks.

"I'm not helping out around here, and Charlie could use the support. Besides, the Death Eaters will scan the Burrow with magic and catch us in the act if we have two extra people here." George finally left the doorway and wrapped his mother in his arms. "I love you, but this has to happen."

"And I'm going with him," Harry added. "Neville's going to stay here and help plan things, but I shouldn't stay in one place for too long. Also, for your own safety, maybe you shouldn't tell anyone else that I'm alive at all."

"Oh, of course we'll protect you, but…but…!" Molly began to cry again, and suddenly Harry was caught up in another one of her hugs. It was not at all comforting to him as her hugs had once been, but she seemed to need it desperately. Her body shook as fear and despair practically radiated from her, and Harry tried his hardest to pass along positivity in his embrace. The creature in his arms bore little resemblance to the strong, brave woman who had become the only mother he'd ever had, and his heart broke all over again as he realized that he might never see that person again.

By the time she withdrew from his arms, George had already thrown together a small pack of belongings. "Well, we ought to head out."

The other Weasleys converged on them for their goodbyes, and Harry didn't mind when they spent more time with George than him. Only Neville hung back, looking nervous once more. "Alright, Nev?"

"It's just…well, I was never the one who really planned things out. I left that mostly to the Ravenclaw strategists and Ginny, because she learned a lot from the twins." Neville flexed his hands. "I think they're putting too much faith in me."

"Never." Harry smiled and dug into the pouch around his neck and dug out his favorite bit of parchment. "Take this."

"I've seen that before," Neville said incredulously. "The night that Dumbledore died, Ron and Hermione had it! It's that map!"

"Good, that makes this easier. All you have to do is put your wand on it and say 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good', and it'll open right up. The thing is, it isn't quite working right."

"What do you mean?" Neville said quietly.

"I don't know if it's because the school was rebuilt with dark magic or what, but certain parts of the castle don't show up. Gryffindor Tower still does, but Ravenclaw Tower doesn't seem to exist anymore. The Great Hall is partly there, partly not. Corridors disappear halfway through and come back on a different level." Harry snorted in disgust. "It's difficult to use it now, but it's something. When you want to close it up, put your wand on it again and say 'Mischief Managed'." As he said the words, the ink seemed to rush back into his wand.

"Thanks." Neville smiled slightly. "I'll keep it safe."

"Take care, then." Harry nodded and raised a hand in farewell, but Neville hugged him before he could get very far.

"Be careful, my friend." With that, Neville walked to the table and spread out the old parchment. Harry waded through the Weasleys until he got to George, who clapped a hand on his back and led him outside with a final wave to his family.

When they were hidden behind the hill around the house, Harry stopped and turned to George. "Alright, what gives?"

"With what?"

"Look, you and I both know that-"

"That I have Hogwarts memorized like the back of my hand, right." George chuckled, and the hollowness of the sound frightened Harry. "I could very easily be the one helping out around there, it's true. But I needed to get out of that house, away from everyone. I can't stand it anymore."

"I don't understand."

The stocky man sighed. "Everything there reminds me of him, Harry, and even worse, I remind everyone there of him. Mum can hardly look at me without her eyes filling with tears, and two days can't pass without someone calling me 'Fred'." George's eyes filled with tears. "I can't stand being reminded at every turn of him, I just can't."

Harry nodded slowly. "That makes sense. Sorry I brought it up, I should have realized-"

"If we're going to be running around together, Harry, I have to insist that you stop apologizing." George wiped his eyes and narrowed them at him. "Now, we can't have you running around looking like a dead man, can we?"

"Erm…" Harry started, but George was already digging through his pack in earnest.

"I know I packed them, right at the same time as the Peruvian—aha!" He pulled a small bottle out and uncorked it with a flourish. "How do you fancy being Cousin Barney again? I stole a few of his hairs from the village while you were busy stuffing your face, and this should last better than your charms anyhow."

"Well, hopefully he's lost a few pounds since the last time I was him," Harry said with a smile. He took the bottle from George and toasted him before swallowing it whole. The taste was incredibly greasy, and he licked his lips in disgust as his body began to change.

"Guess he's gone a bit in the other direction," George stated when Harry's skin stopped boiling. His thighs strained against his jeans, his stomach , and his hem dragged on the grass beneath him. "Looks like you might be about my size now, though."

Harry gratefully accepted a pair of worn trousers and changed to give his newly-plump body some relief. "So where are we headed first?"

"I need to dip into the stash that Fred and I created last year to pick up a few things, and then…" George hefted his pack once Harry had his fly buttoned and started walking towards a distant grove of trees. "I actually lied."

"What?"

"I said we were going to Cardiff, right? We might make it down there eventually, but I want to make a trip up north again." George pulled a roll of parchment from his pocket and handed it to Harry. "This came by owl while I was mulling things over earlier. Figured we could go lend a hand."

Harry unfurled the parchment. A bright red "WANTED" was stamped atop a photograph of four teenagers, and something in his gut curdled in recognition. "Dean, Seamus, Parvati, and Lavender…they're still alive?"

"They've apparently been on the run this whole time," George answered. "I didn't know it myself, but it looks like they're fixing to get to the school. I figured we could either dissuade them or…"

"Help them out. Luna could certainly use the assistance." Harry grimaced at how happy his classmates looked in the photo. It couldn't have been much more than a year old, judging by their looks, but they looked much younger than he now felt. "It says here they've been spotted by a witch who lives in Braemar. Where exactly is Braemar?"

"Scotland, of course. Other than that, I've no idea." George chuckled at Harry's sigh. "So, while we're walking…why don't you tell me a little bit more about last year."

"Like what, exactly?" Harry rolled the parchment back up and handed it back to his companion.

George hummed under his breath. "How about you start by telling me how you stopped Hermione from killing Ron?"

* * *

><p>Ron gritted his teeth at Umbridge's smug grin and Demelza's screams. Ritchie and Jimmy were huddled together on the other side of the staff room, trying to staunch their wounds and escape the horror of watching McGonagall torture their friend.<p>

Why they were being tortured at all and why McGonagall was the one doing it was a mystery to Ron. When Jimmy had dared to ask why Ritchie's arms were being used as a cutting board, Umbridge had sent a Stinging Jinx straight into his mouth. No one else had dared to speak, though Ron, who had dealt with far worse torture than a swollen tongue, was only able to stop himself for his sister's sake.

The Transfiguration professor was remarkably uncreative in her methods: for Demelza, the punishment involved a Severing Charm to the eyebrow, a Stinging Jinx to the legs, a jet of water to the face, a Pimple Jinx to the body, Severing Jinxes to the boils that appeared, repeat. And repeat. And repeat. McGonagall's lack of creativity and continuation of the cycle on end was infinitely more torturous than the magic itself, and from the amount of blood seeping through her robes and the weakening of her cries, Demelza was beginning to fade.

McGonagall must have realized this, because she finally broke her pattern for one last shot. "Crucio!" Demelza's scream was hoarse and soft, but the way her body twitched on the floor made Ron want to vomit. Ginny sat expressionless by his side as she watched her former teammate suffer, and Umbridge cackled.

"Great work, Minnie, great work indeed!" Umbridge waved her wand at Demelza, and her body slid through the barrier around Jimmy and Ritchie. Ritchie pulled her close to them and tried to wipe the blood from her face, though the blood streaming down his arms just made it worse altogether, and Jimmy shouted loud, unintelligible curses at the two professors with a tongue so swollen he might have eaten a Ton-Tongue Toffee. McGonagall turned to the stout witch, and Ron's mouth fell open in surprise. His head of house's eyes were full of tears, and her lips were pressed together so tightly that all color had fled them. "I daresay she'll feel that for a few days."

"Yes," agreed McGonagall curtly. Umbridge turned to Ron and Ginny and smiled again. She licked her lips in anticipation of seeing one of them under the other witch's wand, and Ron imagined her tongue reaching up to grab the large black bow poised on her hair like it was a gigantic fly. "Which one is next?"

"You do seem eager, Minnie," Umbridge said cheerily. "I'm debating on whether or not it would be prudent to torture the girl first or release her from the Curse and let her watch her brother. What do you-"

"Headmistress!" Yaxley burst into the staff room without knocking, his eyes wild and stance haggard. "Dolores, the—exploding—all of them!"

"What are you talking about?" she asked crossly. "We are in the middle of a lesson, Yaxley, so do wait until we're finished."

_Lesson?_ Ron raised an eyebrow at Jimmy, who was looking back at him in similar confusion.

"This can't wait! Something's happened, Dolores, to all of the bathrooms in the school—the toilets are exploding, over and over, and they keep fixing themselves if someone enters the room, only to explode again if they try to use them!"

Umbridge was so shocked that she actually dropped her wand. "Exploding…that letter I got this morning…blowing up the bathrooms…but I thought they meant…"

"We can't stop it! You gotta come, and quick!" As if to back up his plea, a crashing noise and a feminine scream echoed into the room from some nearby toilet. Umbridge picked up her wand again and turned to McGonagall.

"Minnie, choose whichever one of the brats you want and recommence the punishment. I've got to go help." A distant yelp followed her words, and she and Yaxley sped from the staffroom. McGonagall slammed the door with magic and turned back to Ron and Ginny, her lips still clamped shut.

"Miss Weasley," she said solemnly, "I believe it is your turn." She lifted her wand, presumably to summon Ginny through the barrier, but Ron finally broke his caution-induced silence.

"Don't do this, Professor." McGonagall looked at him with narrowed eyes, and pain shone through the tears that still filled them. "Whatever the rest of us did, even if it was just being too Gryffindor or whatever, don't hold that Ginny. She hasn't even been here a whole day."

"My instructions were clear, Mr. Weasley," she said with an icy tone. "I was told to choose one of you for the punishment."

"If you have to torture one of us, do me first. Bloody hell, do me instead, too! I can handle double the punishment, but I can't…I can't handle you doing that to Ginny!" His voice broke and a tear fell from his eye, but he maintained eye contact with the professor. "You'll have to kill me before you lay even a lick of magic on her!"

McGonagall looked startled through her Imperius-induced mask, but she wasn't the one to respond. "Why do you care so much?" Ginny asked. Every eye in the room fell on her, though she did not move her gaze from the opposite wall. "I am nothing to you. You are nothing to me. We are nothing to her. It is simpler to go along with the punishment. Resistance will lead to more punishment for us all."

"You aren't nothing to me," Ron whispered in response. "I love you."

She finally turned to face him, her eyes confused rather than dull. "You what?"

"I love you." He crouched beside her and wiped his eyes. "You're my baby sister, and I'll always love you."

"But my family is…" Ginny narrowed her eyes for a moment, and just as life began to shine within them she moaned deep in her throat and winced. When she met his gaze once more, her eyes were dull once more. "You are wrong."

More tears ran down his cheeks as Ginny turned back towards the wall, but the silence was quickly broken by Demelza's low cries of pain. Ron saw movement from the corner of his eye, and before he knew what was happening he was laying in the middle of the staff room in a pool of stale blood. "As you wish, Mr. Weasley. This punishment will be doubly-effective."

He cried out in pain as welts appeared all over his body. His arms, legs, torso, and neck felt like they were on fire, and when he forced himself to look down he realized that flames were indeed springing up from some of the welts and diving back into unaffected portions of skin, spreading the curse across himself. McGonagall did not speak as she waved her wand once more, but he recognized the effects of the tooth-growing curse at once. His front teeth forced his lips apart and grew at an alarming rate, stopping only when they pierced the blistered skin over his collarbone. He found that attempting to scream caused immense pain in his chest and mouth, which made him scream all the louder, and when McGonagall brought her wand down in a slashing motion he found himself wishing for death.

"No more! No more of this, Professor, please!" Someone was screaming from behind him, but the haze of pain made the voice unrecognizable.

"Stop this!" cried someone else.

"Ghbbbbbluuuhhhbmmmm!" came a third shout.

Miraculously, the onslaught paused. Ron's front teeth receded back into his mouth, and he was able to screw up his eyes and scream his pain properly. His relief was only momentary, unfortunately; he opened his eyes to see McGonagall bringing down her wand in a slashing motion. Every blister on his right arm popped, and his vision faded in and out of blackness at the intensity of the pain. More screams came from behind him. As his vision came back, he saw that McGonagall's wand was poised to strike once more, but the tears in her eyes were finally overflowing. He closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath.

_Now's your chance, Ron. Now, while she's weak and you're conscious. You can stop this._ The voice that sounded so much like Hermione's drifted into his mind again, and he followed its cue without thinking.

"Please, Professor," he whispered. "Please stop. This isn't you." McGonagall blinked at him and opened her mouth to respond, but he continued over with a stronger voice. "Come back, please! You hate Umbridge as much as the rest of us, why are you listening to her?! Snap out of it!"

"I…"

"The worst you've ever done was fifty points or taking away Hogsmeade," he continued, lifting his head as much as he could to maintain eye contact. "Can you really stomach doling out this sort of punishment now? Three years ago, you were constantly defending us from Umbridge's crazy plans. Have you changed so much?"

"No." McGonagall suddenly straightened her back and waved her wand over him. The busted boils on his arm resealed themselves, and he found that he was able to sit up with little pain. Two more waves of the wand Vanished the barriers around the others and sent their wands back to them.

"Professor?" Ritchie limped over to kneel next to Ron. "Are you-"

"Demelza?" Ron turned to the door just in time to see Luna Lovegood appear from nowhere. The shiny folds of an Invisibility Cloak disappeared into her book bag as she entered the lounge. "Oh, goodness, I didn't realize how many of you…Professor McGonagall!" Luna's eyes bulged when they fell on the teacher, and she pulled her wand from behind her ear and poised herself for battle. "I'll hold her off, you all get safe!"

"Miss Lovegood, you'll do nothing of the sort." McGonagall aimed bright blue spells at Jimmy, Ritchie, and Demelza, and from their relieved exclamations it was a helpful charm of some sort. "Get back to your dormitories, all of you, and do not tarry in the corridors. Robbins, Lovegood, escort Miss Weasley if you can manage her. I shall deal with the headmistress upon her return, and teach her a thing or two about punishments."

"But, I don't-"

"I presume you orchestrated the exploding toilets as a diversion to rescue your friends here, correct?" Luna nodded. "You did well, but it will not distract the headmistress and her thugs for long, so you must hurry. Now all of you, go."

Luna slowly put her wand back into her hair and looked around in confusion as Ron went to Ginny's side and knelt. "Gin, you've got to go with Luna and Demelza now, alright? I'll talk to you later."

"Actually, Mr. Weasley, I need you to stay with me. We can't all disappear without being caught." McGonagall collapsed into a chair as Ritchie, Jimmy, and Demelza came to hoist Ginny to her feet and lead her out of the staff room. Ron narrowed his eyes but nodded, and Luna tilted her head curiously as she took Ginny's arm from Ritchie and left. The professor waved her wand at the door, causing it to shut itself and seal with a loud squelching noise. "A good lass, Lovegood. Bright, even if she is a bit dotty at times."

Ron took a seat next to McGonagall as she sighed. "I take it you broke free from the Curse, then."

The old professor attempted to smile, but her expression crumpled into despair as her eyes fell on his mottled arms. "Mr. Weasley, I apologize for my actions. By the time the headmistress left to deal with Lovegood's ploy, I had given up struggling against her will and accepted my punishment even in her absence."

"Your punishment?" Ron's mouth fell open in amazement again. "She wasn't punishing us at all, was she?"

She shook her head. "Dolores only acquired control of me from Lucius Malfoy, a far more powerful and practiced Death Eater than she, yesterday evening. I have struggled with her for the past several hours to the extent of nearly freeing myself from her will. She still controlled me physically, unfortunately, and she remembered my fondness for my Gryffindors, especially my Quidditch team, and realized that the easiest way to break my will would be to force me to torture you and your teammates." McGonagall pressed a hand over her eyes and shook her head. "This lesson was to teach me how far she was willing to go to control me."

"It nearly worked, didn't it? She almost broke you."

"The pain of inflicting such injuries on my students, on my team, was too much for me to bear. I retreated into my mind and tried my hardest to fade away and let her take over entirely." The Transfiguration professor chuckled sourly. "How foolish of me."

"It's not foolish, Professor!" Ron protested. "You were being tortured just as much as the rest of us, just inside your mind instead of on your body. Just like we tried to get away from the jinxes and curses because they hurt, you were running away from reality because it was just as bad or even worse than the curses. It's a normal, self-preserving reaction to trauma."

She looked up at his last sentence and surveyed him through her glasses for a few moments before speaking quietly. "Professor Dumbledore personally advocated for you to be named prefect," she said. He blinked in astonishment at the randomness of her words. "He said that you had more of the logic and heart required for the job than most of your roommates."

"Well, he always a little bit crazy," Ron muttered.

"He wasn't wrong about that." He choked slightly. "Mr. Weasley, you were able to remind me of why I became a teacher and why I retained my post even through difficult times. In the dark recesses of my Imperiused mind, I had forgotten. Watching my students suffer so certainly hurt, but I had forgotten that I had remained a teacher specifically to save you and the others from such a fate. You made me remember when nothing or no one else could or did."

Ron felt the tops of his ears turn red. "I just knew you better than that," he said quietly.

"Yes, well." McGonagall reached out to pat his arm, but stopped just short of touching the blistered surface. "Thank you for everything, Weasley."

"…find out who did this, I'll have them strung up by their toenails for a OOMPH!" Umbridge ran smack into the staffroom door when it didn't swing open on its own. "What's going on?!"

"Mr. Weasley, I need you to trust me," McGonagall said quickly. "Get on the floor, quickly!"

Ron hurried to comply as Umbridge began screaming. "Minerva McGonagall, if you've let those children overtake you I'll have you hanging by your toenails as well! Let me in this _instant_!"

McGonagall took Ron's wand and threw it over her shoulder while waving her wand at the door. Umbridge stepped inside and gasped, but McGonagall waved her wand again before Umbridge could even lift hers. "Obliviate!"

Umbridge's eyes glazed over momentarily before she shook her head and looked around. "Goodness, what's happened?"

"You were just showing me what you'd do to my students if I didn't comply with you outside of the Imperius Curse," McGonagall said. Umbridge looked from her to Ron and back in confusion, and Ron moaned loudly to support McGonagall's claim. "And now that you've thoroughly bruised and blistered him, may I be allowed to heal him properly?"

"Outside of the Imperius Curse?" Umbridge asked dazedly. "Minnie, I don't understand."

McGonagall snorted. "Your magic and mind proved insufficient to control me by means of the Imperius Curse, if you recall, and so you have resorted to more medieval methods and forced me to watch as you injured the only one of my Gryffindors who acted as prefect and played varsity Quidditch. As difficult as it will be, you've convinced me to remain on my…best behavior while you retain the post of Headmistress."

"Ah, of course!" Umbridge smirked broadly. "And no, Minnie, I don't believe I shall allow you to heal Mr. Weasley. He could use the reminder himself."

Ron didn't have to force the groan that left his throat at those words, and McGonagall flashed him a concerned look before returning her gaze to Umbridge. "Very well, Dolores. As I'm quite sure that Mr. Weasley has quite enough homework to be getting on with, and seeing as I have several classes worth of assignments to mark myself, I suggest we both get back to work." She sniffed loudly and straightened her back. "And my name is Minerva, or Professor McGonagall. Do not call me Minnie again."

Umbridge nodded vaguely. "Do watch yourselves if you require a restroom; they seem to be malfunctioning today."

Ron struggled to his feet, crossed the room to retrieve his wand, and followed McGonagall from the staffroom while Umbridge watched dumbly. When they were out of earshot, the tall professor turned to him and sighed. "I apologize for baiting her, Mr. Weasley. Had I not explicitly asked, she may not have forbidden me to heal you. I suggest you don't let anyone else give you a dose of Boil-Cure Potion, either, because both our heads may be on it if you do."

He laughed hollowly and started down the corridor. "Don't worry, Professor, I won't. Besides, there's only one person I know who'd do that, and she's not going to be able to."

"And who would that be, Weasley?"

He squeezed his eyes shut and flinched away from the sudden mental image of a head full of bouncy brown curls. "Who else but Hermione?"

* * *

><p>Hermione woke up to the familiar crack of Apparition. She struggled to her feet and looked around the room for anything that she could use as a weapon against the intruder, and grabbed Harry's worn copy of <em>Hogwarts: A History<em> before concealing herself behind the door. A loud sigh carried from the ground floor and someone began to climb the stairs. "They never make it easy."

A woman with ash blonde hair walked into Harry's room while Hermione held her breath, and the young witch raised the book above her head and took a step towards the intruder. Her heartbeat quickened until she was sure it would race right from her chest. She hadn't felt this amount of adrenaline since the last battle. "If you move, I'll kill you."

The woman turned around with pursed lips and raised eyebrows. The expression was familiar for a split second, but when the woman spoke Hermione didn't recognize the voice. "Oh for Merlin's sake, you believe you can kill a person with a book?" Before Hermione could react, the woman waved her wand at the book, Summoning it away from the terrified girl. "At least use something dangerous if you have to threaten people. Now, come with me."

"You won't take me back!" Hermione said, tears filling her eyes. "The Order will be here soon, they'll stop you!"

"Ha!" The blonde chuckled at Hermione's terror. "I am the Order, you foolish child. It's just after eleven o'clock, is it not? Were you not told to be prepared for my arrival at that time?"

"What?" Hermione blinked in astonishment. _Did I really sleep for that long?_

"Now come downstairs. I don't want to have this conversation surrounded by a dead man's belongings and their dust bunnies." The woman strode past Hermione, who felt her stomach drop. By the time Hermione caught up with her, they were standing in the living room. "Much better, don't you-"

"Harry Potter isn't dead," Hermione blurted out. _He can't be. He isn't, I'm sure of it! I'd feel it._

"Oh?" The woman sat on the edge of an easy chair and smiled coldly. "And you are privy to this information how, exactly?"

"Just…I heard stuff…when they…" Hermione faltered under the witch's icy gaze.

"Go on, dear. What makes you so certain that Harry Potter isn't dead?" When Hermione bit her lip and sat on the sofa, the woman sniffed. "We have no room for dreams or unprovable theories in the Order of the Phoenix. Even if you had evidence, you are not to be trusted."

"What do you mean?"

"Do not mistake us for fools. You just happen to have gained the favor of a Death Eater, and he just happened to contact the Order via a House Elf who had been expressly ordered not to speak a word about any of it?" The witch chuckled again. "Every sign points to you being a spy."

"So that's why I can't leave! You're keeping me prisoner here!" Hermione fisted her hands and attempted to control her temper; getting angry wouldn't help her case any.

"Exactly. Some of the Order members may believe that you're just an innocent little girl, but they're not here. I am, and I can see right through your little game."

"Game?" Hermione straightened her back and glared at the woman. "Do you honestly believe anyone would go to such lengths as self-mutilation and starvation just to trick one or two Order members into a trap?"

"I don't know. Even if you do turn out to be an innocent victim, you're still going to stay here until we find a job for you. As payment for your rescue, you owe the Order a minimum of one year of service."

"Excuse me?"

"You will be working for the Order for at least one year, until your debt has been repaid. Refusal to do so would be unwise, at best. Of course, this is merely a standard warning, as I'm sure you're not actually going to work for us considering you are a spy and all, but-"

"No, I'm not," Hermione said angrily, "and no, I will not be treated like this. I won't."

"Yes, you will, especially if you pass our examination." The witch opened her satchel and withdrew a long, thin object. "I'm sure you recognize this."

She recognized it immediately, and when the witch stood up and moved closer Hermione backed up in horror. "Get away from me! Away! Leave me alone!"

"It's only a Probity Probe, it's not like it hurts! If you're innocent like you claim, you have nothing to worry about. Just let me-" Hermione screamed and leaped past her, running as quickly as her legs could carry her. She made it to the safety of Harry's room and slammed the door, diving under the bed and shaking like a leaf. "I knew it!"

The crack of a second Apparition startled Hermione so badly that she banged her head on the underside of the bed. "Good day, Antigone. Where's our guest?" She began to cry at the emotions that spun through her mind at the sound of the new arrival's voice. She hadn't even stopped to consider that a man would come to the house, let alone a man who she knew. Terror at the idea of being near a man and relief at possibly reconnecting with her friends battled inside her.

"It's about time you arrived, Arthur! That girl is almost definitely a spy, there's not a doubt in my mind. Saw the Probity Probe and ran for it, for all I know she's summoning her Death Eater friends right now. Or trying to, at least." The voices stopped just outside the door. "We know you're in there, you piece of scum."

"Please come out. We aren't going to hurt you." Tears sprang to her eyes at the concern in Arthur's voice, and she whimpered. "Even if you're working for the Death Eaters, we aren't in the business of killing in cold blood."

The door opened, and Antigone's heeled boots stomped inside. Arthur's worn boots followed closely. "We know you're under this bed. Give it up already, or I'll stick this straight under-"

"Don't bring it near me, please," she whispered. "Put it away. It hurts."

Neither of them spoke for a moment before Arthur knelt down. "My dear, Probity Probes don't actually hurt," Arthur said softly. "Why don't you come out and we'll show you?"

She knew they were right. She knew she was being stupid. That didn't stop her from wanting to stay as far away from the Probe as possible. "The-the last time one of those was used on me, it…it was to t-t- to test it."

"Test it?"

"The Death Eaters have changed them." She moaned quietly into the floor. "They test for blood purity, and they don't just make an alarm and a vibration when they find what they're looking for. It feels like a knife."

"Oh, right, of course you have a story. Poor little thing, tortured and starved and probably kept in a kennel like some kind of dog, right? Don't make me laugh."

"Antigone, stop."

Hermione took a deep breath. "I'm not coming out while that thing's there, and if either of you even try to touch me I'll kick you. I'm not kidding.

"Why do you think we're going to hurt you?"

"Because...because men hurt me!" she shouted. Arthur jumped in shock, but Antigone simply shifted her weight.

"Another one of these, eh?" the witch whispered. "They always-"

"Antigone! A word." Arthur led Antigone from the room, and once their footsteps had faded away Hermione pushed herself out into the open. Arthur was talking downstairs, and she crept into the hallway to eavesdrop. "…talk to them like that!"

"It's a ploy, Arthur, and you're letting your emotions hide that fact from you!"

"No, Antigone, your emotions are the ones clouding judgment around here. You lost many family members and you haven't been able to contact Susan since the battle, I know. I know how hard it is to lose loved ones, to lose children, but you can't take it out on innocent victims like that poor girl upstairs! If you would let yourself see and listen, you'd realize that she's a girl just about Susan's age who has been through hell. That wasn't acting, she was genuinely terrified of both the Probity Probe and me."

"So you think, but-"

"This isn't the first time you've had this problem, and that leaves me no choice. Antigone Bones, as a senior member of the Order of the Phoenix, I relieve you of your current recruiting duties. New orders will arrive by owl soon. Leave the wands with me."

There was a screech of outrage and a loud crack as Antigone presumably Disapparated. Arthur sighed loudly before calling up the stairs. "Young lady, I'm going to leave you for a moment. I'll send another Order member to explain things properly in my stead. I apologize for frightening you."

Hermione didn't have time to respond before he, too, Disapparated, and she leaned against the wall as more emotions rolled through her. One part screamed for Arthur to come back, to take her to the Burrow where no rogue Order members would verbally assault her and where she would be surrounded by friends…family. Another part sighed in relief that he hadn't pushed for her to reveal herself.

Even though she knew Arthur Weasley would never hurt her nor allow harm to come to her, just the sound of a man's voice had sent her flashing back to the basement that had been her prison for so long. The masculinity of his boot had made her stomach tremble with fright. She hadn't expected herself to react in such a manner to any non-threatening man, let alone Arthur; after all, she had known the Weasley family for almost as long as she had known about the magical world, and the only pain they had ever inflicted on her involved Ron being a thick-headed arse or the twins pulling a prank gone wrong.

Ron…would she react in the same way when she found him again? Would she scream and run away, not even stopping to explain herself? If she could stomach being near him again, would she be able to hug him? Kiss him? Or would she demand that he stay on the opposite side of the room at all times, never taking a step nearer her?

Either way, Ron wouldn't put up with it. She couldn't blame him. She was worthless, used goods. He wouldn't want to hold her like he had held her in the Great Hall, wouldn't want to kiss her like he had kissed her in the Room of Requirement. He probably wouldn't even want to be near her.

Another loud crack interrupted her despair. "Hello?" asked a weary voice.

Hermione's heart leaped: Molly Weasley had been sent to talk to her. Molly, the mother of the man she loved, the woman who had opened her home for four consecutive summers, the witch who had made her feel more at home than she had ever felt it the Muggle world.

"Are you still here, dearie? I believe you met my husband Arthur earlier. My name is Molly Weasley, and I'm here to talk if you'd like. I can even fix you a nice lunch." She sighed, and Hermione made up her mind and crept downstairs as the woman continued to talk. "Just come down when you feel like it. I do hope you enjoy turkey sandwiches."

Even though she could only see her back, Hermione could tell Molly had undergone a transformation. Her hair was more gray than red, and her body was leaner than Ginny's had been during her prime Quidditch condition. "I'm…I'm not very hungry."

"Oh!" Molly spun around with her wand raised, and Hermione jumped in fright. "Oh, my dear, I'm so sorry. You startled me."

"I'm sorry," Hermione whispered. Molly's eyes seemed too large in her gaunt face, but no recognition seemed to resonate within. Her expression didn't change from a generic smile, the kind that Molly only wore when she was trying not to look stressed. Ginny had worn the same smile a few times in the dungeon. "I didn't mean to."

"Now, then, now that we've had our turns frightening one another. Are you sure you don't want a sandwich? How about a biscuit and some milk, then? Some fruit?"

"Really, I'm not hungry. I'm still full from breakfast." Hermione sat stiffly at the table, certain by now that Molly Weasley didn't recognize her. "Thanks, though."

"Not at all." Molly sat at the other side of the table. "I haven't been hungry lately myself." They sat in silence for a few moments, each contemplating the other. "Antigone was horrible to you, wasn't she?"

"Yes. Is it true that some of you think I'm a spy?"

"There are a few Order members who believe that every new member is a spy. Most of them, like Antigone, have suffered devastating personal losses at the hands of the hands of the Dark Lord and his followers. Her brother, his family, their sister, and their parents were all killed by You-Know-Who personally, and her daughter Susan has been missing since May." Molly sighed sadly. "I know what it's like to lose so many, and I can understand why Antigone is so frightened. However, I don't believe you are a spy."

"Why not?"

"I know a thing or two about glamour charms, dear, and these aren't fake." Molly drew her hands across her own cheekbones as she spoke. Hermione just stared at her. "Have you found your way to a mirror yet?"

"No," she said quietly. "I was looking for one and then I got distracted by one of the bedrooms."

Molly nodded. "Yes, Arthur told me you had taken to Harry's room. Did you know him in school?" The matronly woman didn't give Hermione a chance to answer before moving on. "He was good friends with my youngest boy, Ron."

"Yes, Molly, I know-"

"Oh, do you? Well, then, you probably know Antigone's daughter, Susan Bones. She was in the same year as Ron, but in Hufflepuff instead of Gryffindor." Hermione finally had time to speak, but the look on Molly's face stopped her. The older woman was clearly devastated just by mentioning Ron and Harry; how would she react if Hermione revealed her identity? Would she even believe her? "Regardless, you may be in for a bit of a shock when you get to a mirror. Before we get you all cleaned up, though, let's talk about the Order. I daresay you are indeed a witch, considering you obviously attended Hogwarts, and that means we are prepared to ask you to help us out."

"Antigone informed me that I owed a year's service," Hermione said bitterly. "At least a year."

"Owe us a year?" Molly huffed and put her chin in her hand. "No, dear, that's inaccurate. We only ask that you help around this house, preparing rooms and such for more freed prisoners. If you don't feel comfortable doing so we can arrange for you to be moved somewhere else until you recover and we believe you are no longer in danger, or if you'd prefer to do something more hands-on we can arrange for you to do that once you are sufficiently recovered. You don't owe us anything, let alone a year."

Hermione smiled slightly at this news. "I like this sort of Order better than the one Antigone was trying to force me into. Of course I'll help, but-"

"Excellent!" Molly picked up a bag from the floor next to her and dumped its contents on the table. "First things first, we'll get you a wand, and then maybe you can get cleaned up a bit before we have you sign your Secrecy Contract and go over some more business. Go ahead and-"

"You have my wand!" Hermione squealed. She gripped the familiar ivy handle in her right hand and laughed gleefully when it reacted to her touch with a shot of purple sparks. "How did you find it?!"

"We were rather hoping you would be reunited with it," Molly said smugly. "During the rescue last evening, one of our members found a rather large stash of wands at the Manor. Apparently they were keeping confiscated wands in a vase like a floral arrangement, the fools. I'm so pleased for you."

"Right. Molly, I'm going to get cleaned up, and then I'll be back down." Hermione stood up, but Molly stood as well.

"I brought some of my daughter's clothing for you, dear," she said thickly. She handed Hermione a stack of bright fabric that seemed to weigh an impossible amount. "She…she would want it put to good use."

"Thanks," she said softly. Ginny's clothes would likely be tight on her, but the thought had been kind.

On her way to the last room in the hall, which she decided had to be the bathroom, Hermione stopped to grab Harry's Gryffindor jumper. She wanted…no, needed to be close to him now, and Mrs. Weasley might recognize her more if she was wearing such a familiar jumper.

She caught a glimpse of herself in the bathroom mirror as she closed the door, but quickly turned away. The contours of her face were obviously hidden behind the grime and matted hair, instead of missing completely. That skeletal reflection couldn't possibly be real. Those scars couldn't possibly be so vibrant. Her eyes couldn't possibly be so bloodshot.

She stood in the hottest stream of water she could stand until it began to cool, shampooing her hair and scrubbing her face and attempting to remove the various streaks of blood, dirt, and grime across her body. Part of her mind was worried that most of the smudges and streaks stubbornly remained intact, and fretted over the fact that her body seemed different than before, but she couldn't stop cleaning herself. Over and over the washcloth scrubbed her skin, over and over the soap foamed and disappeared in the slowly cooling water, over and over she stopped to wipe tears from her eyes. When the water finally turned downright icy, she turned the tap off and stepped out of the shower.

The mirror had fogged up, but a wipe of her hand remedied that quickly enough. Before she even looked in the mirror, she found herself staring at her hand. She'd stared at it often enough in the cell, when she attempted to distract and annoy Goyle, but she'd never been able to see how far the bones jutted out through her skin. She'd never been able to see how many cuts and scrapes hadn't healed.

Hermione had admitted to Antigone that she had been starved and mutilated, but she hadn't realized how obvious it must have been to the other witch. It made her dislike her all the more.

Finally, when she was unable to put it off any longer, Hermione wiped her hand over the bathroom mirror again. She gasped at what she saw.

Her face was little more than an old roll of parchment stretched over a skull. Her cheeks were missing, her lips practically non-existent, her temples completely concave. Molly's earlier gesture made all too much sense when Hermione saw the angry red scars that ran the length of either cheekbone and the matching one along her left jaw. Goyle had often run his thumb down that side of her jaw, and now she understood why. The only color in her face seemed to come from the scars, her puffy and red eyes, and her eyebrows, one of which was cleaved in two by yet another long scar.

It got worse as her eyes finally stopped examining her face and looked to the rest of her body. Both arms were lined with red and white stripes, scars new and old, and the carving on her left arm from Bellatrix stood out even worse than it had before in the face of her new alabaster complexion. _Mudblood._ The Dark Lord had graced her with a matching scar across her collarbone in exquisite calligraphy. _Mudblood_. The collarbone itself stood out more than it had ever done before, and below them Hermione resembled little more than a skeleton.

Her breasts were replaced by jutting ribs, her stomach by a hollow space. Where her hips had once flared out in a womanly manner, her hipbones poked out so far that she was surprised they didn't punctured her fragile dermis. The individual bones and muscles in her arms and legs were all readily visible. She was a walking science experiment.

"Dear, are you alright in there? Only I need to be getting back to my own home soon," said Molly from just outside the door. Hermione gasped at her voice and began to sob. "Oh my. I'm coming in."

"No, please-" Hermione did her best to cover herself as Molly bustled in, but the matronly witch sighed sadly as her eyes raked over the girl.

"I'm afraid most of that hair will have to go," she mused. "However, I may be able to help with some of those newer scars. I have a potion."

"Please, get out!" Hermione curled up into a ball, and sobbed even more. She felt Molly sit next to her and lifted her head again. "I need to be alone, and then I'll be fine."

"Nonsense. You need help." Her gaze pierced Hermione's for a moment before she placed a tub of potion next to her. "A dab of this goes a long way. Come downstairs once you're dressed and we'll work on that hair, how's that sound?"

Hermione sniffled and nodded, and once Molly had shut the bathroom door behind her she attacked the potion with a strength she didn't think she had. The collection of names on her thigh was the first to be slathered, followed by her face and the marks running up and down her arms. Some of them hissed and disappeared almost immediately and some of them puckered and dried up almost to nonexistence, but when she checked her reflection in the mirror she was aghast to see that her face and the names hadn't been affected at all. She tried again and received similar results, and her eyes filled with frustrated tears. The Mudblood markers also seemed to be permanent.

Wearing Ginny's clothes was a different challenge altogether, and not much easier. Far from being too curvy to wear her friend's jeans and blouse, Hermione looked like a child playing dress-up. Harry's jumper was so large that it looked to be oversized on purpose, and she almost wanted to smile at her reflection when she rolled up the sleeves for the fourth time.

Molly was shuffling papers at the kitchen table when Hermione finally emerged. "Oh, here we are! A nice bath always helps me feel…wherever did you find that jumper?"

"In Harry's room," she said quietly. "I was…" _best friends with Harry and your son, I was like a sister to your daughter_,"…I was in Gryffindor, too."

"Were you really?" Molly stared at the jumper for another moment before hiding her eyes behind a hand and sniffling. "I'm sorry, it's just…I made that jumper, you see. A Christmas present for Harry several years ago."

"It's quite comfortable," Hermione replied. "It just reminded me of better times. I can take it off if it would make you feel better."

"Nonsense! It's good to see it put to use." Molly wiped her eyes and pulled out her wand. "Now, I'm going to cut off most of this hair. This shouldn't hurt at all, but you might want to close your eyes."

"No, please, just do it." Hermione sat down in another chair as Molly stood and grabbed her curls. "I'm ready."

"Diffindo." Hermione winced as her head jerked forward from the sudden lack of resistance. "I had to go quite short, I'm afraid. Luckily I had some practice with my eldest, so you still look presentable, but I imagine you'll feel quite different."

"It's just hair," she replied quietly. "It'll come back, unlike some other things."

Molly sat across from her and gave her a pitying look. "Is there anything I can-"

"You said I had to sign some paperwork. Let's just get it done." Hermione steeled herself for the revelation that was surely to come. "What first?"

"Really, all you need to do is sign here, on the dotted line, and print your name below that. It will keep you from divulging any information you glean during Order-related affairs to anyone who is not a member of the Order." Molly pushed a piece of parchment and a Self-Inking Quill over to Hermione. "And then we'll discuss what positions will work for you."

"Alright." Hermione placed the tip of the quill on the parchment and took a deep breath. This was the moment of truth, except…except she couldn't do it. She couldn't let Molly realize just how far she had fallen, how pathetic she had become. She had to hide. Her trembling hand scrawled out a pseudonym.

"Very well, Miss," Molly's eyes darted down to her name, "Miss Jean Wilkins, thank you. Now, what areas are you…" She stopped speaking and Hermione's heart skipped several beats when her signature glowed bright red. "Now, what have we here? You haven't been completely honest, then, have you?"

"I…"

"I'll find out your secret soon enough. That's a Confession Quill that one of my sons borrowed from the Ministry. It corrects any falsehoods that are written." Hermione moaned under her breath as the light faded away. "There we go. So, Miss Her…"

"I tried to tell you earlier, but I just couldn't, and then you were so upset about Ron and then Ginny and I just, I couldn't tell you who I was because I'm pathetic and you have enough to be getting on with without worrying about someone who isn't even your own child!" Hermione buried her face in her hands and began to sob again. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

"I thought you were dead!" Mrs. Weasley said in amazement. Hermione looked up through her tears to see Mrs. Weasley beaming at her. "I had no idea that…no hope, even! Oh, Hermione! Hermione, Hermione, wait until the others-"

"No!" Hermione jumped out of her seat and scrambled backwards until she met a wall. "No, you can't tell them!"

"But-"

"I couldn't handle being near your husband even, Molly," Hermione cried. "How do you think I'd fare in a house full of your sons?"

"Oh, Hermione dear, you know they'd-"

"Part of me knows they wouldn't hurt me, but the other part can't stop thinking about being hit and cursed by men constantly over the past six months, it can't stop remembering what it's like to have a man grunting obscene phrases into my ears while he's fucking me, it can't stop realizing that every man I've seen since the battle save You-Know-Who and your husband fucking raped me repeatedly and now it won't stop wondering if every man I'll ever meet again is going to do the same!" Hermione gripped the sides of her face and folded herself into a protective ball once more. "I can't, Molly, I can't."

Nobody spoke for several minutes. Hermione closed her eyes and attempted to regain control over her breathing and mind. When Molly finally broke the silence, she was able to lift her head without crying. "I see. Can I…is there anything…?"

"No. Just…I'm not ready for them to know." Hermione unfolded herself slightly and sat on the floor. "I'm not sure I'll ever be ready. Please don't tell them."

"Arthur will have to find out, but I'll make sure the others don't." Hermione started to protest, but Molly spoke over her. "He's the senior Order member, not me. He can keep your identity private without breaching protocol."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. He won't breathe a word, dear." Molly plopped down next to her and wrapped her into a hug. "I've got to get back home, I'm going to be late for a meeting. I can hardly bear to leave you…are you sure you won't come?"

"Yes, I'm positive." Hermione squeezed her tightly. "I've missed all of you so much, but I just…"

"And we've missed you." Molly kissed the top of her head gently and drew back to stare at her. "I'll be back in a few days. I want you to eat four good meals a day, gain back some of that weight. I went home and brought back a casserole while you were in the shower, so that should last you several meals easily. It's in the icebox."

"Okay." Molly stood up and sighed sadly. "Molly?"

"Yes?"

"I love you." Molly's eyes lit up at the words, and as she closed them Hermione could have sworn they filled with fresh tears.

"I love you too, my dear Hermione. Farewell." And after wiping her nose on her sleeve, Molly turned on her heel and Disapparated.

Hermione felt her own tears return, and when she tried to bury her face in her hands the jumper sleeves slid down to cover them. Her face nestled into the knitted garment, and her nose filled with a faint scent so familiar that her tears came even thicker. The smell seeped into her mind, simultaneously calming and distressing her.

She took a deep breath and imagined for the briefest moment that instead of the jumper, she was crying on Harry.

* * *

><p>AN: So there we have it! Harry and George have set off on a quest, Ron has saved McGonagall from the Imperius Curse and possibly exposed his freedom to Luna, and Hermione now realizes that she has PTSD and has revealed her identity (however unwillingly) to Molly. This chapter has been way too long in coming, yeah?

_Next time..._

"Bloody! Little! Bastard!"

"Life has a funny way of showing me what's important."

"You don't have to be."

"Who died and made you hot stuff?"

"How long?"

"I love him. I do."


End file.
